Message in a bottle from girl Sidonie Fery found in Sandy debris; gives comfort to her grieving mum A photo of Sidonie Fery in New York. Fery was about 10 years old when she wrote a silly note in a bottle and threw it in the water off Long Island. In 2010, Sidonie died in a cliff fall while in boarding school in Europe, and her message has just been found and returned to her grateful mum. AT first glance, the green plastic ginger ale bottle on the beach looked just like another of the billions of pieces of debris splayed across the US Northeast coastlines after Superstorm Sandy. But this bottle, which would fetch a nickel at the recycling centre, is worth everything to a grieving mother who knew instantly from the silly adolescent message inside that it had come from her daughter, who died in 2010: "Be excellent to yourself, dude!" Sidonie Fery, then 10, wrote a message on a scrap of paper, tucked it in a bottle and launched it into the waters off Long Island a dozen years ago. It was long forgotten until workers cleaning up after Sandy in the village of Patchogue discovered it and called Sidonie's mom, Mimi. "I was just sobbing when I heard they had found it," Mimi Fery said. These are very, very kind people. This weekend, Ms Fery will return to the seaside village about 97 kilometres east of Manhattan where she will again thank the workers and attend a ceremony where a small plaque will be dedicated as a remembrance to Sidonie, village officials said. The 18-year-old died in a 2010 fall from a cliff in Switzerland while attending boarding school. Ms Fery described her only child as a creative youngster, who was always writing poetry. She knew instantly when told what the message contained that it had been written by Sidonie because it was a quote from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, the girl's favourite film. Ms Fery also takes a second meaning from the message, one not to worry about Sidonie. Mimi Fery says she was sobbing when Superstorm Sandy workers called to say they had found Sidonie's message. "Be excellent to yourself, dude," Ms Fery said, quoting the message. It makes so much sense. Described as a "very artistic and vivacious young woman," Ms Fery said Sidonie always had an independent streak; she travelled by herself to visit relatives in Iran every summer beginning when she was about 7 years old, her mother said. Born on September 11, 1991, the little girl was often teased and harassed after the terror attacks on her 10th birthday by people who didn't understand her Persian heritage, her mother said. "She had to deal with a lot of things," Mr Fery said. But she stood her ground. The bottle only travelled a mile or two westward from where it was likely deposited to the location where parks workers found it just before Thanksgiving last year. It was intermingled with broken docks, boating gear and a spectrum of sea trash. Because the note included Sidonie's New York City phone number, the bottle found its way home to her mother. Brian Waldron, a Patchogue parks department employee for 23 years, says he was working with a few temporary workers hired to assist with the cleanup after Sandy, when one of them said they found the bottle with the note inside. The bottle with Sidonie's message, a Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure quote: "Be excellent to yourself, dude." Her mum has taken it as a sign from Sidonie not to worry about her. "We opened it and it had a phone number inside, so I called the number and left a message," Mr Waldron said. More than three hours later, an overjoyed Ms Fery called back crying on the phone. They quickly arranged a meeting in Patchogue on Long Island so she could retrieve the prized possession. "I told her I felt like her daughter was looking down from heaven and wanted me to give her a call," said Mr Waldron, who added that he collected a second bottle filled with sand from where the ginger ale bottle was found and gave it to Mr Fery. She was crying, everybody was crying.