A 76-year-old love letter discovered during renovations at a Quebec home has helped a man get to know the father he never really knew.

Eight pieces of paper fluttered down from the ceiling as insulation was being ripped out of Veronique Cote’s home in Chambly, Que. during recent renovations.

When Cote read the papers, she realized they were a love letter from Lt. Robert MacFarlane, an engineer who served with the Canadian Armed Forces during the Second World War.

MacFarlane’s letter, dated May 23, 1943, is addressed to his wife, Jean, who was living back home in Montreal. The couple was married just after the war began.

“I’ve just come in from a walk of a few miles and thought I would write down, if I could, some of the things I’ve been thinking about you. Things that are deep in me but what I’ve expressed perhaps only rarely to you,” MacFarlane wrote in the letter.

Cote shared photos of the letter online. The very next day, MacFarlane’s son, Bruce MacFarlane, who lived in the house as a baby, showed up on her doorstep.

MacFarlane learned of the letter after a friend spotted the post and recognized his name. He said he instantly knew the letter was from his father.

“His writing is kind of like mine, but better,” he said.

Reading his father’s heartfelt words was a touching moment for MacFarlane. His father died when he was 12 years old, and he said he was struck by the note’s sentimentality.

“The honesty, the feelings, (it is) nice to know your dad loved your mom,” he said.

Bruce MacFarlane said he believes the note fell out of a box when his parents lived at the house and was somehow left behind.