A Quebec woman renovating her home uncovered 140-year-old documents and some very personal love letters from a Canadian soldier.
Veronique Coté was in the process of gutting her home in Chambly when she found newspapers dating to 1878.
She also came across an eight-page love letter in perfect condition.
"This amazing letter fell out of nowhere from the ceiling as we were removing old insulation," said Coté.
Later that day Coté shared photographs of the love letter on social media and it did not take a family friend long to track down a surviving relative of Lt. Robert MacFarlane.
He contacted Bruce MacFarlane within hours.
"As soon as he saw the name he texted me and said 'you better sit down' and I said 'oh lord now what," said MacFarlane.
The next day MacFarlane showed up at his childhood home, met Coté, and read the letter from May 1943.
"My dearest wife," read MacFarlane. "I've just come from a walk of a few miles and thought I would write down some of the things I've been thinking about you, things that are deep in me but what I've expressed only rarely to you."
Coté said it was a beautiful moment.
"He was very emotional. He was crying. I was crying."
MacFarlane was just 12 years old when his father died and through this letter he saw a side of his father he had never known.
"This was, I think, an extraordinary letter that he wrote to mom," said MacFarlane. "More heartfelt, more in-depth feelings."
With reporting from Rob Lurie
