EXETER, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A Luzerne County family is hoping to locate a graduation gift that floated away on graduation day.

The family says the gift was going toward something special and included a personal message for the grad.

The gift was gone with the wind.

After Wyoming Area High School’s graduation Friday evening, one of the graduates received a present from her father that within minutes took off into the sky.

“Everybody was so shocked. I was just watching it and I was about to cry because I don’t know I was so sad,” Janessa Miller from Exeter said.

Janessa graduated from Wyoming Area High School on Friday and is now wondering where one of her gifts floated away to.

After the graduation ceremony, Janessa and her family gathered around to take photos.

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Her mom, Erica Finn, says Janessa’s dad, Brett Miller, gave Janessa a special gift at that moment.

“Which was the balloons and attached to the balloons was a card. He said you can get rid of the balloons like let them go but don’t lose the card,” Finn said.

Miller says the balloons with the card attached were handed off to a friend and within moments floated away into the sky.

“Off they went up, up and there’s nothing we can do,” Finn added.

Inside the card was a special message from her dad and money for something she had wanted for a while.

“He wrote stuff in there. He didn’t tell me what he wrote in there but that there was a card and he wrote stuff and that he gave me some money to start saving for my car,” Janessa explained.

“She needs a car. She wants to go to school to be an ultrasound tech so she doesn’t want to depend on us for rides,” Finn continued.

The car would also be a way to see her dad more often.

Finn says Janessa’s dad doesn’t live in the area anymore and is always away for work as a truck driver for a staging company.

The graduation was the first time Janessa saw him in a long time.

“The last time she saw him might of been a year ago. He works a lot and he doesn’t live in Pennsylvania. This meant a lot for her. She wasn’t even sure he was going to make it. The gift is just a gift. I’m happy I got to see my dad at the graduation I haven’t seen him in a while so that’s pretty nice,” Janessa continued.

We did try reaching out to Janessa’s dad today to find out more about the graduation gift, but due to his work hours, we have not yet heard back.

If you find the gift, you can go online to notify Finn.

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