(WXYZ) — You could say Michigander Ryan Florios has an appreciation for history.
"I went this year to the Flat Rock Speedway antique show ... I'm not really a collector. I just pick up little pieces of neat little history. And there was a stack of postcards; they were all in pretty good shape," said Florios.
But in that pile of postcards was one that held a lot of value — not when it comes to money, but when it comes to meaning.
Bob Brownson grew up in River Rouge in the 1940s. His mother, he was proud to say, was the first woman elected to the school board there.
"My mother had passed away in 1979. And I have almost nothing in my possession that actually has her penmanship ... which is perfect cursive Palmer Method script and nobody does that today. It's quite amazing," said Brownson.
That handwriting — preserved on a postcard that his mother sent many years ago while attending a school board convention in Boston, Massachusetts.
Photos courtesy Bob Brownson
"This was a penny postcard, and penny of postcards got the last amount of attention by the post office ... come to find out, you know, mom came home: 'Did you get my card?' ... and 73 years later, there it is," said Brownson.
The postcard, which was sent from the Boston area on October 5, 1949, is now back in the Boston area, where Brownson lives today. It’s a full circle moment — all thanks to Florios.
"A little too much time, free time on my lunch," Florios joked. "And I just kind of started checking into it."
His recent search led him to Brownson on Facebook. Thinking he may be a relative, Florios reached out on a whim.
Photos courtesy Bob Brownson
"I figured, you know, maybe this would be worth something to someone ... maybe it might be something they would want. And that's why I started kind of tracking it down. And I'll be darned ... if you know, I didn't make out," said Florios.
Brownson was incredibly thankful that it did all work out.
"I must admit that I got a little emotional about that. But I thank you so much, my brother. You've done something very wonderful," said Brownson in a conversation with Florios.
But the long-lost penny postcard was really just the door to a budding friendship — both men discovering they have a lot more in common than they could have ever imagined.
"You want to hear something even more coincidental, amazing to me? I'm adopted, too! My brother, what are the odds?" said Florios to Brownson.
Now Brownson is on a quest to find out who has had the postcard all these years, and to leave people with this message:
"When in doubt, do something nice for somebody. Be creative. You know, Ryan, you saw this thing that meant something to you and you could have just simply put it in your own collection and kept it and looked at it every once in a while. But you did something very creative, you said, 'I wonder if this might really mean something more to somebody else.' ... if there's a message for people is to think out of the box like that. 'What do I have? What am I doing? Who am I? And are there people who need something that either I have, something that I can give, can I help someone to be a better person, to make them happy, to bring the precious memory back?' And you did that,'" said Brownson.
And it’s as if Brownson's mother, Edna Taylor Brownson, knew this day would come back in 1949, writing on that postcard “if I don’t get lost, I’ll be seeing you.”
Photos courtesy Bob Brownson
