Some stories about high school sweethearts have a “happily ever after” ending that starts straight after prom. But while this story does have a “happily ever after” ending, it would take its heroes nearly 50 years to reach it – and not with each other.
Adrian Pearce and Vicki Allen dated for a short while when they were teens, and hadn’t seen each other for years since – but Adrian’s decision to keep a Christmas present Vicki had given him shortly before they broke up unopened, and to place it, year after year, under his Christmas tree, had created a bond between the two that would only reveal itself many years later. So what was Vicki’s wrapped gift, and why did Adrian keep it unopened for so long?
Read on to find out!
High School Dating
Adrian Pearce and Vicki Allen met when they were both students at George S. Henry Secondary School in Toronto, Ontario, back in the ’70s – and they started dating soon thereafter. Neither one of them knew what to expect, since it was the first time either one of them had been in a serious relationship.
Adrian was 17 years old – two years older than Vicki – but it seemed like he was the one doing the chasing. Still, he felt like their relationship was a sure thing, and was really looking forward to spending time with her over the winter holidays.
Vicki, though, had other plans.
‘Tis the Season
In late 1971, Adrian and Vicki were getting ready for winter break. Adrian was already shopping around for a present for his sweetheart, when Vicki called him up, and told him something that would break his heart. She wanted to break up.
This caught Adrian completely by surprise. Not only was he looking forward to spending his vacation with her, he had thought their relationship would last for much longer – but it was not to be. It would take more than five decades for Adrian to learn why Vicki had decided to call it off.
Something to Remember Her By
Vicki had decided to leave Adrian, but not before she gave him the Christmas gift she had bought for him.
When Adrian received his wrapped gift, he dutifully kept it unopened, intending to place it under the Christmas tree and open it along with the rest of his presents… But after Vicki had broken up with him, he had a change of heart – and he decided to do something that would become a tradition for most of his adult life.
The Vow
On the day that Vicki broke up with him, Adrian returned home heartbroken and hurt. He’d been dumped by the girl he loved – and right before the romance of the winter holidays. Some Christmas this was shaping up to be, he thought. On Christmas day, as presents under his family’s tree were unwrapped and enjoyed, one package in shiny blue wrapping remained unopened: Vicki’s gift.
Adrian felt like he wasn’t ready to open the gift just yet – and, fueled by his sadness, made a vow, then and there: he would never open Vicki’s gift, no matter how big the temptation. The next year, Vicki’s gift found its way under the tree as well – and stayed wrapped, just as it had the year before.
A Tradition is Born
On the year Adrian received Vicki’s present, not opening it was a decision made out of deep emotion. On the second year, it was a curious decision that didn’t make much sense, but which Adrian carried out anyway. On the third year he brought Vicki’s present out, unopened, and placed it under the tree, it was safe to say that it had become a tradition.
As the years passed, Adrian would take out the shiny blue parcel, its clear sellotape turning a little more yellow and brittle each time, and put it under his tree. “I told my family I’m never going to open that present,” Adrian recalled. The years turned into decades, and it seemed to Adrian that he would keep up with his strange tradition forever… but soon, that would all change.
All Things Must Come to an End
Over the years, Adrian had moved on. Eventually, he met the love of his life – a woman by the name of Janet. The two got married, had kids and settled down – but despite their domestic bliss, Adrian had decided to keep his tradition with Vicki’s present alive. Even when he placed presents for his own children under the family tree, Adrian would continue to place Vicki’s present right beside them.
But while Adrian thought that he would carry on the tradition indefinitely, at some point Janet decided that enough was enough.
Letting Go of the Past
Adrian and Janet had been married for several decades, when Janet finally decided that enough was enough. It’s not that she was jealous – she knew Vicki didn’t pose any threat to their relationship. Rather, Janet was concerned. Her husband had been holding on to the past for such a long time – 40 years! – and she felt that it would do him good to let go of some literal baggage.
Adrian agreed to stop putting the gift under the family tree, but over the next few years, he would still take it out of storage each Christmas and look at it, before putting it back in its drawer. But why was this gift from ages ago so important to him?
Changing His Life Forever
For Adrian, the gift was more than just a memento from his high school sweetheart. Over the years, it had become a reminder of his years as a teenager. It helped him remember what it was like to be young and in love, and to show him how far he’d come over the years.
But while to Adrian, the reasons for keeping the gift unopened were clear, for many of his friends and family it was a worrisome habit. One year, Adrian decided that instead of explaining the story every time someone asked, he’d take to social media and write up the story for all of his family, friends and acquaintances to see. Little did he know that this single post on social media would change his life forever.
Coming to a Decision
In his Facebook post, Adrian did more than just talk about his tradition with Vicki’s wrapped gift: he also revealed that she had told him why she had chosen to break up with him. “She left me for an older guy named Wolf who she called Wolfie,” Adrian wrote.
The post caught the attention of the social network, and was seen by thousands upon thousands of people, all curious to know what was inside the shiny blue wrapping. Many people decided to try and find Vicki – and eventually, Adrian himself decided it was time to reconnect. That, it turned out, was easier said than done.
Pretenders
Soon, Adrian’s story made it into the national headlines. News outlets and television channels all reported his story, and several women even came forward, all claiming they were Vicki from the story… but Adrian wasn’t easily convinced.
He decided to test their identity by asking them questions only the real Vicki would have known the answer to – and which none of them could answer correctly. Adrian’s search for Vicki continued.
Clues
The media hype around Adrian’s post pushed him to look for Vicki himself. The first place he turned to was his journals. In 1977, Adrian had written an entry, while he was a student at Humber College, about running into Vicki’s sister, Stephanie.
He asked Stephanie how to get in touch with Vicki, and she had given him several phone numbers in return – but while this was a good start, none of these numbers led to Vicki today, 40 years later.
Trail Gone Cold
Adrian’s journal entry from 1977 provided three phone numbers: The first was Vicki’s home number – though that, 40 years later, had obviously changed; the second was for what was her workplace back then, Sears, but she had since moved on to a different workplace; the last number was for Vicki’s parents, but that, after four decades, was the wrong number as well.
Adrian turned to the phone book, but that only provided him with a number for a 91-year-old woman by the same name. It seemed the trail had gone cold, and that Adrian wouldn’t be able to find Vicki after all… but soon, that would change.
A Little Help from His Friends
The story of Adrian’s unopened gift continued to make the rounds online, and with it, the news that Adrian was looking to reconnect with his long-lost girlfriend. It turned out that one of Adrian’s high school friends was still in touch with Vicki via Facebook, and when he saw Adrian’s story, he sent her a link to the article.
It didn’t take long after that for Adrian and Vicki to get back in touch after that. Vicki invited Adrian and his wife, Janet, to meet her in her British Columbia home. Adrian was excited, but Janet was a bit worried. Sure, they were happily married, and parents to two kids – but how would Adrian react when he finally saw Vicki after all of these years?
The Big Reveal
Adrian and Janet made the journey from Toronto to British Columbia in late 2018. Upon finally meeting once again, Vicki expressed her surprise and shock that he had held on to her gift for so long, and managed to resist the temptation to open it.
After talking it over, Janet, Adrian and Vicki decided it was time to put an end to the mystery of the gift, once and for all. By that point, the gift’s story had become quite well known, and so Adrian and Vicki decided they’d use it to promote a good cause: they’d reveal it on live television, as a way to help sponsor a benefit for a Christmas charity organization.
Vicki’s Side of the Story
During the live CTV broadcast, Vicki decided it was time to share her side of the story. While she didn’t remember what she had bought for Adrian, she did remember when she bought it, and why she had decided to break up with him. It turns out she was shopping for a Christmas gift for Adrian when she ran into another boy.
His name was Wolf, and Vicki had a crush on him for as long as she could remember. The two got to talking, and talking turned into a kiss. Vicki felt terrible for this betrayal of Adrian’s trust.
Forbidden Kiss
The way Vicki remembered it, the worst thing about that kiss wasn’t the fact that she had been kissed, as much as it was the fact that she had kissed Wolf back. She felt that after such a betrayal, she couldn’t continue dating Adrian, and broke up with him right before they went on Christmas vacation.
While the betrayal felt terrible for the 15-year-old Vicki, with the perspective of decades it all seemed pretty silly and harmless. After Vicki told her story, the time finally came to unwrap the present. The suspense was palpable. What would the gift turn out to be?
The Gift
After nearly 50 years of resisting the temptation to open the gift, Adrian decided that instead of opening it himself, he would let Vicki have the honor of unwrapping the package she had wrapped all those years ago. Vicki agreed – but as soon as she undid the wrapping, her face turned a deep shade of red. She was deeply embarrassed, and muttered that there was no way she could have possibly given Adrian such a gift.
Adrian and the camera crew urged her to show them what the gift was, and when she eventually relented gasps of surprise could be heard. It was a book, titled Love Is: New Ways to Spot That Certain Feeling – a collection of comics strips by a woman called Kim Grove, inspired by letters she had written to her husband. Vicki’s embarrassment was understandable, but that wasn’t the only surprise she and Adrian had in store that evening.
The Ignorance of 15-Year-Olds
As Adrian flipped through the book, Vicki said her choice of a breakup gift “just shows how ignorant a 15-year-old can be,” and added that she may have been “a bit careless of his feelings,” before asking Adrian to check if she’d at least penned a personal message for him on one of the book’s covers.
After going over the book thoroughly, she was able to confirm that she had, indeed, written a personalized note – but things didn’t end there.
Speculations
After the big reveal, Janet shared that she thought the gift would be an Archie comic from the ’70s, while Adrian said he had thought the gift would be a wallet. Both had to agree that there was a certain poetry to the gift, especially considering it had remained unopened for half a century because of a broken heart.
Vicki, on her part, said that she should have known it would have been a book, considering she loved going to book stores at the time. Following the reveal, Vicki decided to shed some light on how she had seen her and Adrian’s relationship.
Her Perspective
While Adrian had been deeply in love, Vicki said that in her eyes, their high school romance wasn’t all that serious. As far as she was concerned, her relationship with Adrian had been an innocent, short lived thing – not a whirlwind romance like Adrian had experienced it.
Adrian, on his part, said he didn’t hold a grudge. He was married to Janet, the love of his life, and was ready to let the past be in the past. Still, the gift had been a big part of his life, and he still had plans for it, now that it had been unwrapped and his friendship with Vicki mended.
Past and Future
After the excitement died down, Adrian said that he wanted to frame the book, along with its blue wrapping paper, and hang it up somewhere in his home as a reminder of his past. But as well as looking to the past, Adrian and Vicki’s story would also help others look to the future.
Their broadcast event had helped raise money for the Christmas Bureau of Edmonton, and they’d managed to put together a very respectable sum that would go toward buying Christmas gifts for children in need. But that wasn’t the only purpose their reunion had.
Adrian the Author
Adrian and Vicki’s story didn’t end there, however. In addition to having a steel will, Adrian is also an artistic spirit. In addition to promoting a good cause, the televised event was also a means to promote his new book, The 47 Year Old Present, in which Adrian wrote about his thoughts and experiences with the unopened gift.
Following the emotional and poetic conclusion to his story, Adrian, Janet and Vicki remained friends. Janet and Vicki even contributed chapters to Adrian’s book – but Adrian felt like he still had something to add to the book after the live Christmas special had aired.
Writing the Final Chapter
After the Christmas special had aired, Adrian decided to re-write his book’s final chapter to accommodate the events of the git’s unwrapping ceremony, as well as their aftermath. But that wasn’t the end of Adrian’s creative undertakings.
In addition to his literary work, Adrian wanted to tell his story through another medium which was close his heart: camera work. He announced plans to film a documentary about the 47-year-old present, so it seems like the unopened gift would still have a place in his life, even after it had been unwrapped.
The Movie Version
Adrian hopes his documentary will feature guest interviews, as well as footage of himself, his wife, and Vicki. But while Adrian is pretty excited about his project, other members of his family aren’t as keen about it.
Adrian’s son has gone on record calling his father’s entire story “stupid,” and Vicki has also wondered about him holding on to the present for so long.
A Happy Ending
Adrian’s story has made waves beyond just his native Canada. It’s been reported on all over the world, including in the US and the UK.
But while this story starts with heartbreak, it ends happily. Both Adrian and Vicki had moved on, fallen in love, married and had kids of their own, and the gift and the breakup remain distant memories.
Doing His Homework
While Adrian was writing his book, he tried to be as thorough as he could. He tried to get in touch with other people in his school, as well as family members and friends, in an attempt to piece together as many details as possible.
He’s contacted Vicki’s sister, as well as many other friends. As for Wolfie… well, no word from him, so far.
The Song Remains the Same
Adrian remembers exactly how he felt when Vicki dumped him, because when he came back home after the breakup, he listened to Johnny Winter’s song “Be Careful With a Fool,” which he felt described his feelings perfectly at the time.
He even wanted to use the song’s words in his book, but had to pass on that due to copyright issues. Today, Adrian can listen to the song with a smile, but it used to tear his heart out when he was younger.
Renaissance Man
Recently, Adrian posted about his love of reading and writing in social media. He said that in 2018 alone he had read 43 books – but that they weren’t his only source of inspiration.
He also attends writing workshops, and is working hard on his next novel, which will detail his adventures and experiences as a cameraman! It seems like Adrian is truly a poetic spirit.
The Greatest Gift of All
Adrian may have kept Vicki’s Christmas gift for 47 years, but that doesn’t mean his wife, Janet, isn’t very, very important to him. In January 2019, Adrian shared a photo of Janet and him taken in 1972 – a few short months after he and Vicki had broken up!
So while he may have held on to the gift, it seems like he’d gotten over his heartache pretty soon after.