A Nova Scotia couple has made a heartwarming connection with a family in the American mid-west, thanks to a birthday balloon and a laminated card.

Ron Carruthers was picking up trash around his cottage in Caribou River late last month when a brightly-coloured object caught his attention.

“When I got to it, I noticed that it was a deflated balloon, there was this card that was attached to it,” says Carruthers.

He took the card home to his wife and together they made an exciting discovery – a handwritten note with a special birthday greeting attached to the balloon.

“Was just goose bumps from head to toe because I thought, what an amazing thing, for us and for them,” says Judy Carruthers.

The card also contained contact information for whoever found the balloon.

“For some reason I thought somebody was going to find it,” says Bob Miller.

On Feb. 28, the Miller family of Middlefield, Ohio – located more than 2,000 kilometres from Caribou River – released a number of balloons on what would have been Joyce Miller’s 60th birthday.

Joyce Miller, Bob’s wife, died just a few months before the release. One balloon in particular included the laminated card with a birthday greeting for Joyce in heaven.

Bob Miller says he believed someone would find his wife’s balloon, but he can’t believe it travelled more than 2,000 kilometres and ended up in Nova Scotia.

“I was speechless. I just couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t talk,” he says. “I started crying right away because it was unreal.”

“I couldn’t get over that it wasn’t ripped, it wasn’t muddy,” says Judy Carruthers. “We didn’t clean it up, it was in perfect shape.”

The two families have been in contact several times since the discovery. The Carruthers say, while the balloon didn’t quite make it to heaven, it came pretty close.

“We very often say we’re living in a little piece of heaven right here, so I told him that, and he had a little, we had a little chuckle over that,” she says.

The Carruthers plan on sending the balloon to Ohio late in the week, along with some photos of the local area.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh