Among all the amazing things out there in the world, the smell of wet concrete after a thunderstorm and the whiff of old paper rank at the very top for me. Couple the latter with my love of old books, documents, and all sorts of arcane papyri and you’ve got yourself a literature lover. I’ll read everything. Heck, I’ll read anything, even your cereal box. So I was pleasantly surprised after I stumbled upon the ‘Found Paper’ community over on Reddit.

A community of just over 147k members, r/FoundPaper likes to keep it simple and does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a community dedicated to documenting various pieces of paper found out in the wild. We’ve collected some of the best paper mementos as shared on the community for you to enjoy, dear Pandas, so remember to upvote your fave pics as you scroll down. Be sure to check out r/FoundPaper when you have the time and give them a follow if you like their stuff.

#1 Friend Of Mine Just Moved Into A New House. Took Off All The Heating Vents To Paint Them, And This Was Behind One Of Them

Image credits: perfect_square

#2 Death Warrant For My 10th Great Grandmother Susannah North Martin, Tried And Convicted At The Salem Witch Trials

Image credits: reddit.com

#3 “Ain’t I A Peach? Ha, Ha” In A 1895 Bible

Image credits: byParallax

The r/FoundPaper subreddit celebrated its 7th birthday a few days ago, on April 30 (congratulations!), proving that communities thrive and survive based on the quality of the content they post. And the fact that the subreddit has had so many birthdays is proof enough that it’s got quality entertainment locked down tight.

One of the ‘Found Paper’ community’s greatest strengths is how streamlined and niche its interests are. Its second strength is that it actually encourages its members to get out of the house and start their own small adventures in order to have something to post.

#4 Found This Passive Aggressive Customer Service Letter From 1964 In My Garage

Image credits: theologically

#5 Good Advice For Everyone!

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#6 Sad Find Today

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“Photographs of found pieces of PAPER(!) with writing on them. Look for paper, make every day a scavenger hunt. Appreciate the forgotten artifacts of everyday life. Share any paper that you found (on the ground, stuck in some bushes, or between cans of soup at the store for example) and you do not know who wrote it,” the subreddit’s moderators explain what their community is all about.

#7 Found Under Windshield

Image credits: Spacemage

#8 Found On A Collected Airplane Food Tray By Flight Attendant

Image credits: TheSoulOfTheRose

#9 Paper Found Among My Late Grandmother’s Belongings Talking About The Armistice Ending Ww I

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“Love letters, doodles, interesting to-do or grocery lists, notes from the past—share your discovery with us!” the mods encourage book, paper, scavenger hunt, and adventure lovers to share their awesome finds with everyone else.

#10 Found On My Daily Walk —“Wow”

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#11 In The Library

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#12 My Mother-In-Law Found A Message In A Bottle Washed Up On The Beach This Weekend. East Coast

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The moderators also highlight the fact that in order to post any photos, the paper has to be found and it has to be paper. No forgotten plastic from your garage. No granite engravings from your neighbors Tom and Jane’s farm (because you know exactly whom they belong to and, well, paper beats rock).

#13 Found In My Fortune Cookie....made Me Smile

Image credits: Layleez

#14 Was Told To Post Here: My Cousin Is Using This Bag Which Originally Belonged To Our Great Grandmother For Her Dance Tomorrow Night And Found A Note Which Has Been Hidden For 81 Years

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#15 Found In A Couch Being Re-Upholstered

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What’s more, the mods want everyone to be “courteous and friendly” toward one another, avoid being “overly annoying or bothersome,” embrace tolerance and sensitivity, as well as remove any and all sensitive personal info from the photos before posting them. Sounds simple enough and it’s the basis for the rules most larger subreddits follow. Disruptive, chaotic, and intolerant communities don’t tend to last for long on Reddit (unless they’re doing it on purpose for the sake of humor).

#16 Found Posted On A Couple Of The Walls Around My City. Email At The Bottom Blacked Out

Image credits: MyWingedLiner

#17 This Book From 1892 I Found Inside A Hole In The Wall In A Rental Flat

Image credits: reddit.com

#18 Bought An Abandoned House And Found This In The Attic

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The Library of Congress explains that how quickly paper deteriorates depends on its quality and in what environment it’s stored. Some ancient tomes and documents can actually be in far better condition than a scrap of paper that’s just a few years old.

“Paper is made of cellulose—a repeating chain of glucose molecules—derived from plant cell walls. One measure of paper quality is how long the cellulose chains, and subsequently the paper fibers, are: long-fibered paper is stronger and more flexible and durable than short-fibered paper,” the LoC points out that not all paper is created equally. If you’re going for longevity, long-fibered paper is your best bet.

#19 "I Remember That Old Pole"

Image credits: DazedAndConfused0112

#20 This Came Out Of A Book I Was Flipping Through

Image credits: Urban_Archeologist

#21 Purchased Old Poetry Book At Flea Market And Found This Old Receipt For A College Poetry Class. This Receipt Has Been In This Book For 102 Years!

Image credits: Dogspokerpolitics

Acids from the environment (like from air pollution or poor-quality enclosures) or from within the paper cut these glucose chains into shorter and shorter lengths in the presence of moisture. “This acid hydrolysis reaction produces more acids, feeding further, continued degradation.”

#22 Garage Sale Find (1929) - About 100 Love Letters Over Two Years From A Guy In Seattle To A Girl In Aberdeen, Wa

Image credits: Braunnoser

#23 Found (Under) Wallpaper

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#24 Found In The Hallway Of My School

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One of the reasons why newspapers don’t last for long is because they’re printed on mechanically pulped paper, meaning the paper has got the shortest fiber length. Meanwhile, the lignin from the wood isn’t removed (as in the case of chemical pulping) and promotes acid hydrolysis, shortening the glucose chains even more.

#25 Historicfound This On The Street In Downtown Sd About 4 Years Ago When I Needed It Most. It’s Been In My Wallet Ever Since

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#26 This Dollar Bill I Found In My Change

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#27 "No. Not Yet." ~ Found In 1908 High School Geometry Textbook

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What’s more, it’s not just acid hydrolysis that threatens a piece of paper’s structural integrity. It can also be damaged by light (what’s known as being susceptible to photolytic degradation) and oxygen (oxidative degradation).

The poorer quality of the paper, the more light degradation affects it. Meanwhile, oxygen degrades paper in a very limited way, unless there are nitrogen oxide pollutants in the air.

#28 Found In My Apartment Building Lobby Today In North Dakota

Image credits: Cowsmop

#29 Found On The Floor Of A Target. Meet Carla Rose

Image credits: Thorinandco

#30 Prom - April 24, 1970. Found While Walking The Dog This Morning

Image credits: MrDorkESQ

Generally, what you want to aim for is having high-quality paper that’s stored in good conditions. Cooler temperatures and 30 to 40 percent relative humidity can help paper last for a very long time, according to the Library of Congress. That’s something to keep in mind if you want to take good care of the interesting finds and documents you may have picked up on your scavenger hunts.

#31 Just Found This $1 Bill At My Parents House. When I Was 6 Years Old I Made This Bet With My Father, He Died 2 Months Later. 25 Years To The Day I Find This....had No Idea A $1 Bill Could Feel So Valuable

Image credits: orangecrush44

#32 Found This 14 Year Old Ticket Stub From London, In A Used Book. I Live 5000 Miles Away In India

Image credits: Assraj

#33 This Original Notice From 1967 About The Creation Of Zip Codes

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#34 Found Tucked Between The Pages Of A Secondhand Textbook I Bought

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#35 My Buddy Was Renovating His Bathroom And Found This In The Wall

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#36 Grandpa

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#37 In A Vintage Hemingway

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#38 This Photo Was Tucked In A Used Book I Bought 15 Years Ago, I’ve Been Using It As A Bookmark Ever Since. I Hope One Day I Find Her...

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#39 Found This In The Kitchen At My Job

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#40 Found On The Floor Of A Dive Bar Last Year. Now One Of My Most Prized Possessions

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#41 Found On My Way To Class This Morning

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#42 I've Been Collecting Found Photos For Years. This Is One Of My Favourites

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#43 Found This Letter That Traveled More Than 209 Miles From The Original Point. Took Five And A Half Years For Someone To Pick It Up, I Was Cleaning The River In Louisville Kentucky And Saw This

Image credits: EdgeThousandTransits

#44 Found This Left Behind In My Sons Room As We Were Moving Out

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#45 Message In A Bottle...

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#46 I Found This Doodle On The Sidewalk Over 5 Years Ago And Finally Found Somewhere To Share It! I Wish I Knew Who Drew It!

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#47 Found This Note On My Morning Walk. Love In A Time Of Coronavirus!

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#48 1937 Letter To Santa - Unopened. Sorry- I Can’t Do It

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#49 There Is A Bookstore In Cambridge, Massachusetts That Tapes Anything They Find In Used Books To The Walls Of Their Basement. It’s Reached A Point Where There Are Now Several Decades’ Worth Of Mysterious Papers Taped To The Wall. Looks Almost Like A Found Paper Museum!

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#50 Found Today On A Hike

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#51 A Tarot Card Found In The Wall Of My 120 Year Old Apartment Building

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#52 Found Outside The Humane Society. Somebody Got A Cat

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#53 Found A Parrot Doodle On A Napkin

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#54 Found In An Empty Classroom... I Don’t Know How To Feel About It

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#55 So My Sister Went Thrifting Recently

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#56 On My Bus This Morning

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#57 A Letter I Wrote To Ralph Macchio (The Karate Kid) When I Was 12. I Gave The Envelope To My Mom To Mail But She Saved It. Now I Know Why He Never Wrote Me Back

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#58 Found This Face Down At 14th And N St Nw In Washington, Dc Today. Can We Get It To Its Owner?

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#59 Found This Cute Message Inside A Book!

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#60 Me N My BF Found This Hiding In A Bench While On Our Bike Ride Today!

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#61 A Paper Found In A Middle School Classroom A While Back

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#62 Contractors Working In Our Basement Found A Package Of Letters Hidden In The Floorboards From The 1920s

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#63 Sad Note I Found On The Sidewalk Outside Of My House

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#64 Drawn On A Kid's Menu Someone Left At A Restaurant. No Name

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#65 Found On The Floor Of Goodwill In Boston, Ma And Couldn’t Leave It To Be Thrown Out. Remember Those Who No Longer Have Anyone To Remember Them

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#66 Sitting In A Waiting Room And Little Girl Probably Around 3 Or 4 Comes Up And Hands Me A Rolled Up Piece Of Paper And Says “Here” And Then Skips Away. I’ve Been Blessed

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#67 Opened A Used Copy Of Carrie By Stephen King And This Fell Out. Seems To Be A Legitimate Bicycle Card Somehow

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#68 Found In The Pocket Of Thrift Store Pants

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#69 Does Found-Found Paper Count? Found This On A Street Corner In A Neighborhood

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#70 Inside A Copy Of Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet I Just Bought From A Thrift Store

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#71 Found This At Breakfast This Morning. Thought Of Y’all Immediately

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#72 Published In 2017

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#73 Found In A Hole In The Wall Of A Coffee Shop

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#74 Found Attached To A Popped Balloon In My Front Yard A Few Years Ago

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#75 Found It In The Pocket Of A Denim Jacket I Bought In A Thrift Store

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#76 Found This On R/Skamtebord

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#77 Found This At My Register When We Opened This Morning. Put It In My Wallet For Good Luck

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#78 Found A Card My Great-Uncle Made For My Great-Grandma. He Was An Advertising Illustrator In The 1950's. Scroll Through The Pics To See The Cute Flapper Lady He Painted In The Card

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#79 My Grandparents Both Recently Passed Away And I Claimed A Few Books Novels From Their Shelves As We Cleaned Up. This Gem Was Inside One Book, From My Grandma To My Grandpa!

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#80 On My Morning Walk. Made My Heart Hurt A Little

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#81 A Drawing I Found In My Textbook Last Year

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#82 At The Market

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#83 Found This Entire Jar Of Paper Behind A Trash Can

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#84 I Wonder If Sam Paid The Man...

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#85 “Ways To Be Cool”

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#86 Neighbor Found While Restoring Cabinets In A Frank Lloyd Wright Home

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#87 My Friend’s Uncle Is Moving Out. Found This In A Box

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#88 Lisa’s Research Game Is On Point

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#89 Found In Borough Market, London In 2016, Liked It So Much I Framed It. Anyone Know The Artist?

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#90 Jay, Please

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#91 I Work At Goodwill And Thought I Was Hallucinating When I Found This In The Donation Box

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#92 Found Hanging On A Walking Trail

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#93 The Simpsons From Memory: Found In A Library Book

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#94 Found This Prom Picture On Some Beach In Michigan

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#95 A Shopper With Simple Tastes And A Poor Memory

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#96 I Would Love To Know The Context Of This Note. I Found It In My Front Yard, Must Have Blown In From A Neighbor

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#97 In A Van In A Junk Yard

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#98 Found In My Airbnb In North Carolina

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#99 10 Dollars I Got A Few Months Ago

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#100 Gender Poem

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#101 Found My To-Do List On My Run

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#102 Found While Walking My Dog

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#103 Goodwill Finds. The Front Is Even Crazier

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#104 Found While Walking Home Yesterday

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#105 This Sign Flew At Me On A Windy Day In Austin Tx

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#106 Found In My School's Library

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#107 Found This While Converting A School Bus. Some Jokes Are Eternal

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#108 Found Someone’s Grocery List. I Approve

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#109 Found Someone Else’s Image Of A Paper And Figured It Was Worth Sharing

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#110 Found This Stuck To A Minibar Menu In A Cheap Hotel On Khao San Road In Thailand A Few Years Ago. I Like To Think They Had Just Met And Spent Their First Night Together, And It Didn't Go Well

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#111 I Found This In A Bible While Cleaning The Rooms At The Hotel I Work At. I Left It Exactly Where It Was. I Have No Idea What It Is

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#112 Technically, Found Paper. Lying On The Ground While Getting Gas This Morning

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#113 Found In A Goodwill Sitting All By Itself :( On The Back It Says June ‘94

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#114 Not Sure If Slides Count. Found These On My Morning Walk Today

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#115 The Real Question This Holiday Season...

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#116 Brewery Production Floor - Grand Rapids, Mi

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#117 Passively Amazing

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#118 Disheartening Cards Against Humanity Remnant Found During Hurricane Cleanup In The Bahamas

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#119 Don't Wanna Get Toad

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#120 Fergie

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#121 Found In A Hampton Inn, Littleton Nh. Thank You For The Poem

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#122 Found On A Desk On The First Day Of School

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#123 Overseen At College A Few Semesters Ago

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#124 I Found A Danny Devito On The Back It Says “You’ve Found A Lucky Danny Pick Him Up And You’ll Have Great Luck.”

Image credits: Crawly49

#125 Found This On The Street Today

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#126 A Staff Member At Home Depot Was Drawing This When We Went To Go Buy Some Major Appliances

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#127 Hug Your Mom Today If You Still Have One

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#128 Found In Handle Of 2006 Honda Pilot. Little Olivia Left A Note With Instructions To Call When Found. Top Is Front, Bottom Is Back

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#129 Found This Post It In My Desk Drawer Along With Several Others With Sketches And Doodles. Quite Poetic

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#130 Found In The Playground During Recess. One Of My 5th Graders Is Going Home Broken Hearted

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#131 Found Tucked Into A Crevice On The Side Of A Bridge

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#132 Message In A Bottle Found Washed Ashore On A Beach Near Me In Cornwall. “I Am The Only Man Alive Who Knows Who Killed Jfk”

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#133 The Right To Enjoy Beautiful Things

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#134 Found During A Hotel Remodel. Curious How This Ended Up

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#135 Found This On My Car A Few Years Back. (My Vanity Plate Says “Iparty”)

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#136 Found At An Elementary School, Sounds Like A Party I Want To Go To. Who Doesn't Love Uno And Taquitos

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#137 This Is The Best I Got, Homies. Found In A Tjmax Parking Lot

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#138 Outside An Abandoned Building In Harlem, NY

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#139 Found In A Goodwill

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#140 Found This Note On A Walk Today

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#141 Found A Diary In My Town Dumpster!

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#142 Under The Host Stand

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#143 3rd Option Ended Up In The Gutter

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#144 Found On A Sidewalk

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#145 Found A Gun Safety Packet In The Baseboard Of A Closet Of A House We Wrecked

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#146 Found In My Dad's Old Car. Would Have Been The Last Time He Voted

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#147 Along My Bike Route

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