One person’s trash truly is another person’s treasure, as evidenced by the sweet letter an elderly man wrote to an eBay seller regarding his purchase. Apparently, the 86-year-old had been looking for a VHS player so that he could view some of his old tapes. Since buying one on eBay, he’d been able to recover precious footage from some of the best moments of his life! The seller was so touched when they received the message, they posted a photo on Reddit.

“I sell on eBay and got this in the mailbox today,” they captioned the picture.

Because the VHS player had brought the customer so much joy, he wanted to thank the person who made the purchase possible. In his letter to the eBay seller, the elderly man described the beautiful memories he’d relived through the device.

MarshmallowMatt/Reddit

“I watched tapes of my retirement party from 25 years ago which I had never seen before,” he 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.”

He concluded, “I thought you would appreciate how much someone has enjoyed your offer.”