Grieving Daughter Finds Note In Fossil Purse While Thrifting
Unexpected Thrift Store Find
Photo of a little girl with her father and a black purse.
TikTok/Abrielle Clausing
On January 13, 2021, Abrielle Clausing's world fell apart. Her father unexpectedly passed away from Covid-19. As anyone who has experienced grief knows, the journey isn't a straight one. It ebbs and flows with some days being significantly harder than others.
It was during a "particularly hard grief week" when Abrielle, 24, decided to embark on some retail therapy. She used to love thrifting with her dad, and no one loved a good deal more than he did.
However, she didn't just want to shop for the sake of shopping, she had a very specific item she wanted in mind.
"My sister and I decided to go thrifting and I told her I wanted to find a vintage Fossil brand purse," she explains in a now-viral TikTok video.
And wouldn't you know, Abrielle did indeed end up finding "the cutest vintage Fossil brand purse" - seriously what are the chances?
And as if that wasn't serendipitous enough, it was about to get a whole lot more remarkable.
Inside the purse was a handwritten note:
"When you read this you will be far from me in miles but not in my heart. I'm here. I love you."
Whelp.
She immediately took it as a sign from her beloved dad.
"I knew it was from him," she told People. "I always check the inside of the bag before I buy it to make sure it’s in good condition. When I stuck my hand in it, I felt the piece of paper and when I took it out and found the note, I read it out loud to my sister."
"When I saw the note, it just confirmed that he was with us," she added. "He’s always with us."
Response To The Viral TikTok
TikTok · abrielleclausingAbrielle's heartwarming video has garnered nearly one million views and over 1,000 comments and it's making believers out of every single one of us.
"I'm so afraid that death is final and we just stop existing. But some things can't be explained. There has to be more out there!!"
"This was def him 🥹💙"
"I’m literally crying so hard. Someone would have had to carry me out of the thrift 😭"
"I'm honestly at a loss for words. Wow. Just wow."
Even Fossil weighed in, writing, "What a beautiful note to find. Your dad's love will always be with you. Sending you and your family a big, warm hug."
Her TikTok also opened the floodgates for others to share the signs they've received from lost loved ones.
"My brother passed away & years later I was at a checkout line in the store & at the cash register was a young school photo of him that someone left.... never made sense but I'll never forget it."
"About 30 seconds after bursting in tears thinking about my grandpa a car merged in front of me and the license plate was his name and his age when he died 😭😭"
"When my mom passed, days after I found an email that not me nor my sister had opened or read before. It was an email my mom sent us 4 years before with the message “open it when I’m gone, love, mom”. It had a beautiful letter as an attachment."
Love Lives On
The note Abrielle Clausing found in a Fossil bag while thrifting is now part of a cherished collage.
People.com/Abrielle Clausing
Abrielle has given the note a place of honor, right smack in the middle of a framed collage of her favorite sayings and things.
It's a beautiful reminder that the love she shared with her dad lives on, even though he is gone.
And whether you believe in fate or not, you have to admit the universe had an uncanny way of showing up just when she needed it to.
After all, what are the odds that a stranger penned a note with the exact words she needed to hear, placed it in the exact bag she was looking for, AND that bag ended up in the exact thrift store she was shopping in? Pretty astronomical.
And yet, here we are.
Life is full of unexpected, magical moments that often happen when we least expect it. And sometimes those moments bring us the comfort and connection we need most, reminding us that love...is never truly lost.
You Have Been Paid For
It was Maya Angelou who said that each of us has been paid for by those who came before us, and so therefore it is our duty to pay for those who are yet to come.
Think about it: Every chance and opportunity you have ever been offered has only been available because somebody, somewhere, at some point in time, fought for your freedom. "Each of you," Angelou wrote, "Black, White, Brown, Yellow, Red—whatever pigment you use to describe yourselves—has been paid for."
For that reason alone, wouldn't it be a shame if you were to go through your whole life having never maximized every opportunity? Having never fully known what you could have been, because you were too lazy or too broke or too absorbed in your own justifications for not being able to take the leap?
You Have Been Paid For
Realize now that choosing to live out the life of your dreams is so much bigger than simply satisfying yourself. You are also satisfying your father who sacrificed his chance at a good education so you could have yours; your mother who worked tirelessly so you could grow up never knowing the struggles she knew all too well; your grandmothers and grandfathers; your ancestors of centuries ago who could only dream of the privileges and opportunities present in your life today.
Following your dreams is perhaps the most selfless act there is. Because everyone knows that when you truly follow your heart, it riddles your life with uncertainty. There is always a voice in the back of your head telling you that if you get too complacent you could fail; that you should give up early while you're still on top; that it would be in your best interest to just accept and move on from whatever little success you had and pursue the safer option from now on.
But it takes a deeper, instinctual awareness to persist despite hardship. An awareness that you have been paid for – that you have been paid for in the form of the clothes on your back and the food in your fridge, the room you have been allowed to rent and the bed you get to rest your head in every night.
Perhaps you believe in something bigger than yourself that has paid for you: the Universe, or God, or Allah, or Buddha, all of the above or none of the above. Whatever you believe, we are each balls of star energy walking around on a rock floating in space... It is difficult to accept that our existence here is anything but magic.
So whenever I read a story of someone who committed suicide or gave up on their dream or died too young, or all three, I always affirm to myself: "I'm taking that person with me. I'm taking that person with me the next time I get on a stage, or do a job interview, or have anything to do that requires great courage."
I'm bringing them with me. Because they deserve to be honored. Because they remind me that I'm doing what I do not just for selfish purposes; that I'm also doing it for everyone who for whatever reason couldn't make it this far. Who saw no escape, who saw no light.
I want to be that light.
Because we have each been paid for on this planet, and it is our duty to live out the dreams of others who saw no possibility to live them themselves.
Remind yourself of this fact and you will never question your conviction towards the things that set your soul on fire.