Man opens Christmas gift from his first love after 47 years

A Canadian man that kept an unopened Christmas present from a high school girlfriend who dumped him 47 years ago has finally found out what it is.

Adrian Pearce, 60, now a married father of two, was dumped by his high school sweetheart Vicki Allen nearly 50 years ago.

But he had been holding onto an old present from his ex ever since she broke up with him in 1971 — and it was finally opened this year when the pair reunited, The Sun reported.

It was a small book called Love Is: New Ways To Spot That Certain Feeling with cartoons and sayings about love.

The pair reunited after the story first went viral last year and a friend who knew them both sent Allen a link to one of the articles. After getting in touch, Pearce and his wife Janet travelled to British Columbia to meet his high school sweetheart.

Allen opened the present for him as part of a charity event. The event was a fundraiser for the Christmas Bureau of Edmonton, a local charity that provides Christmas meals to families in need.

Allen told MailOnline that she was surprised and shocked that Pearce had kept the gift for so long.

“I was surprised and shocked, when I first heard about it, I was astounded that anybody would hold a grudge that long, or remembered me that long or have been able to withstand the temptation that long,” she said. 

For years Pearce still placed the old gift under the tree every Christmas. He enjoyed the mystery of it, but eventually his wife put her foot down when their daughter, then five, wanted to open it.

He told CTV News: “Any ill feelings I have towards Victoria are long gone, I got over it, I’ve been married for 40 years. And now we’ve become friends so the fact that it’s says Love Is is actually rather appropriate now.”

What are your thoughts on this? Do you remember your first love?