(CNN) As a 10-year-old boy, Max Vredenburgh threw a message in a bottle into the Atlantic Ocean in 2010. His message included his home address, in the hopes his message would be found.

He had to wait nine years, but he finally heard back.

The now 19-year-old college student from Massachusetts says he completely forgot about sending the message in a bottle until his dad sent a photo of the letter -- and the reply -- in a group text.

"My parents always saved things from our childhood, so I didn't think much about it," he told CNN on Monday. "Then I read the letter from the recipient, and my heart just dropped."

On August 21, 2010 I threw a message in a bottle into the ocean from a beach in Rockport, MA. On October 10, 2019 that letter was found on the beach in France. I am mind blown. 9 years. pic.twitter.com/Af2tEwoQtq — māx (@VredenburghMax) November 8, 2019

Vredenburgh wrote the original letter August 21, 2010. He and his father threw the bottle into the ocean at Long Beach in Rockport, Massachusetts.

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