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Woman Thrifts Book, Note Hidden Inside Leads To Remarkable Encounter
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. When a Minnesota woman discovered a note inside a book she purchased at her local thrift store, she could never have predicted the heartwarming encounter that would follow.
Michelle, from Minneapolis, told Newsweek she found the note by "pure luck."
"I was browsing my local thrift store, found a book I wanted, and when I got home I noticed there were handwritten notes tucked inside," she said.
At the top of the note was a handwritten affirmation that read: "I am smart. I am calm. I've worked hard to prepare. I've got this."
Beneath it was a list of MCAT scores that improved over time, from practice scores of 515, 519, and 523 to real exam scores of 525 and 528. The note also included a tracker of medical school applications, interviews, acceptances, and rejections.
Several schools were marked as acceptances, including Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, the University of Iowa, and Creighton University, while others were marked as rejections.
As Michelle read through the note, she realized she was looking at someone's journey through medical school applications and the process of becoming a doctor. At one point, the writer jotted down a humorous, self-reflective question about whether the writer liked people enough to be a doctor, along with a backup plan to explore veterinary medicine programs.
It was a remarkable find, one that made Michelle smile.
"It felt like finding a little time capsule of someone else's life," Michelle said. "You could see years of hard work through the practice MCAT scores, the encouraging notes she'd written to herself, and eventually a perfect score and a list of medical school acceptances."
Finding the note was special enough, but then something even more remarkable happened.
Michelle decided to post a photo of the note on Reddit under the handle lemonspriggs . The post went viral, earning more than 7,500 upvotes. Then Michelle received an unexpected message.
It began: "This is so surreal ... that's my note ."
"To my complete surprise, she actually found the post," Michelle said. "Her husband recognized the notes and sent them to her, so she made a Reddit account just to comment. Hearing the rest of her story and seeing how much the post meant to her made the whole experience even more special."
The woman told Michelle she had completely forgotten she had left the note in the book before donating it.
"I used to tuck little affirmations into my textbooks because I was so anxious about the MCAT," the woman wrote in her response. "Seeing 'I've worked hard to prepare. I've got this.' again brought me right back to that season of my life."
The woman went on to reveal that she is now 34 and, while she did become a doctor, it was "not in the way you'd expect." After earning her qualifications, she chose to become an infectious disease specialist rather than enter clinical practice.
"I study zoonotic diseases and focus on preventing and understanding diseases that move between animals and humans," she said. "I run my own research lab and spend a lot of time working with farmers on biodefense and emerging infectious disease issues. Looking back, it feels like exactly where I was meant to end up!"
The woman thanked Michelle for sharing the note and giving her the opportunity to "meet a young version of myself" who was "so scared, but she kept showing up anyway."
She also had a message for anyone studying for the MCAT or chasing a dream "that feels impossibly far away": simply, "keep going." "One day you'll look back and realize those late nights, tiny victories, and little notes to yourself were all worth it," the woman said.
Getting that response was a special moment for Michelle and a reminder of the positive power of social media . Getting that response was a special moment for Michelle and a reminder of the positive power of social media .
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Charlotte Nisbet and Emma Lee-Sang
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