A message left 19 years ago on a wall behind some wainscoting offers a glimpse at what life was like in John Buckley’s house before he lived there.

In the midst of several frustrating home improvement projects, the Crystal Lake man was painstakingly removing the wainscoting when he discovered a note written in pen by a girl who was 13 years old at the time.

“Once I read it, it got rid of the frustration,” he said. “It was, ‘awww.’ ”