A Nova Scotia woman is looking forward to rereading her Grade 8 journal — 63 years after she wrote it — after it was found by a Halifax man two weeks ago on his walk home from work.

Eva Smith MacKay wrote the journal when she was 13 years old, as a student at Milford School in Milford Station. The journal was part of an English class assignment.

"It's just amazing to me that it lasted this long, so I never thought I'd see it again, that's for sure," MacKay said at her Cole Harbour home Wednesday evening.

MacKay, who will turn 77 years old later this month, said her cousin told her the notebook was found. She later heard the story on the radio Wednesday morning.

As she flipped through the yellowed pages, MacKay recognized some names. She said she's still in contact with a lot of the people mentioned.

"There was a lot of imagination involved, it wasn't the truth about a lot of people, it was mostly made up just to make it more interesting," she said.

Jordan Bonaparte found the journal by the sidewalk on Joseph Howe Drive two week ago. He drove to MacKay's house to give it back to her personally.

"When I initially put the story up on Reddit and started getting the initial comments coming in, I had four different Eva Smiths, one of which lived on Joe Howe Drive — that's where I found the journal," said Bonaparte.

He received MacKay's contact information through people who posted to Reddit, an online forum. He called her Wednesday afternoon and quizzed her about a few names and details in the journal, and based on her answers, he knew he had found the right Eva Smith.

"I'm glad to return [the journal] to her, I had a great time reading it and seeing a glimpse of life in the 1950s," Bonaparte said.

"I hope she shares it with her family and they enjoy it as much as I'd enjoy reading my grandmother's journals if they were ever found."

MacKay said she is looking forward to sharing the journal with her family, particularly her grandchildren, who are both teenagers. She said how her journal from Grade 8 ended up on Joseph Howe Drive remains a mystery.