Teen’s balloon to late father gets sweet responses from city 400 miles away

Every January 6, 16-year-old Ashlynn Marracino releases a balloon in memory of her late father, who died of a brain aneurysm in 2008.

January 6 was his birthday.

This year, like every other year, she released a star-shaped mylar balloon covered in a long message that described how much she loved and missed him, and caught him up on certain details of her life — and asked him to send her a sign.

Part of her note read:

“You have missed so much and I miss you. And I love you, miss you like crazzy!”

It continued:

“I don’t like how I never had you in my life. It’s not fair. Show me a sign please. Anything to let me know you’re there. I miss you so much and I want you back.”

Read more of the note here.

“I can write out stuff that I want to tell him,” Ashlynn told TODAY Parents. “It makes me feel like he would receive it — seeing it go up into the sky and disappear…it feels like a weight has been lifted off your chest.”

On January 7, the balloon showed up in a restaurant’s parking lot in Auburn, California, more than 400 miles from Ashlynn’s hometown of Whittier, California.

A customer brought the balloon into the restaurant and showed it to owner Lisa Swisley.

“We started reading it, my coworker and I, realized what it was and we got kind of teary,” said Swisley. “It was very sad to us that she was missing her dad so much. I just thought I wanted to reach out to her.”

Because Ashlynn signed her full name on the balloon, Swisley was able to look her up on Facebook. Swirly then posted the story of the found balloon on the “Pay It Forward in Auburn” Facebook page, where local residents were quick to offer notes of encouragement and gifts to the girl who misses her father.

"I thought it would be cool to send her something to show my support," Swisley told ABC News. “I jumped on a pay-it-forward page I follow on Facebook, and asked people to contribute.”

She hung the balloon on a chalkboard at the restaurant.

“If people would like to send her a note or something, we will collect them and send a package to her,” Swisley told the Auburn Journal. “People have already said they are bringing journals, notes of support, an ‘Auburn’ shirt and other trinkets that will show our love and support from our great community.”

Author Mitch Albom heard that Swisley’s generosity was inspired by his book “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” and contacted her, hoping to contribute to Ashlynn’s care package.

And when Humboldt State University read that Ashlynn mentioned the institution as her “dream school,” school officials also vowed to send a package.

Swisley is collecting the gifts and letters, and will be sending the care package to the teen this weekend.

Was this the sign she was asking for? Ashlynn believes so.

“It’s a huge one,” Ashlynn said.

“I told him to show me a sign, and I think this is a sign to not hold grudges and to forgive really easily,” Ashlynn told CBS Los Angeles.

The night before her father died, Ashlynn didn’t answer her phone when he called.

“I wish I could fix it,” she said, adding that she believes the strangers’ response to her balloon is her dad’s way of saying “that he loves me and let’s not be down or get down on myself.”

Swisley and Ashlynn recently connected on Skype.

"I think she is adorable and a really sweet girl," Swisley told ABC News. “I asked her if she wanted the balloon back and she said if people can see it and be inspired, we should keep it here. She is an amazing young lady.”