Man Receives a Touching Letter From the 86-Year-Old Man Who Bought His Old VCR

Long gone are the days of popping in a VHS tape to watch a movie, waiting patiently while rewinding it, and manually fixing the tape when it goes wonky — everything's digital now . . . for the most part. Don, an 86-year-old man from Phoenix, AZ, was going through some old things and found a few VHS tapes he had no way of watching. He turned to eBay for the first time ever and purchased a VCR from Matt Shoukry in St. Louis, MO, for $40. Matt, who has been selling things on eBay for a while, normally sends things off to buyers, forgetting about the items and going on to sell the next thing. But this time was different — he sent the VCR to Don, then received a letter from the man days later that left him emotional.

"It caught my eye because it had a handwritten address on the outside," Matt told Fox2Now of the note that was in his mailbox one Saturday morning. He started reading the first line before calling over his girlfriend to read the rest of the note with him. "We read it together and were both on the verge of tears."

Don shared with Matt that he'd recently found a bunch of old tapes but didn't know what was on them. He told Matt that the the VCR looked brand new and that even though he had some issues getting it set up — "Which were mine, and not the player's. I am 86 and perhaps not up to my game," (UM, adorable) — it now works perfectly.

"I watched tapes of my retirement party from 25 years ago, which I had never seen before. Jeez, were we young," Don wrote. "Then a tape of my wedding with all the family and friends, many of which are no longer around. Then skiing trips, kids growing up, travels, and most importantly, the gentle maturing of my family. Each one more fun than the last. All thanks to your generous selling of the VHS player. I thought you would appreciate how much someone has enjoyed your offer."

After reading Don's letter, Matt decided he'd frame it because it means so much to him. And he said he'll definitely be writing Don back, so we can only assume that they're on their way to becoming best friends. Matt said, "I'm going to offer to digitize his videos so he doesn't have to worry about his tapes degrading."

Please excuse me, I have to scoop my melted heart off the floor now.