It’s truly a mystery for whether or not there are forces out there that go beyond reasoning. For myself I have always been somewhat of a believer of that “something more” is out there, but after my most recent adventure with my family I have become a full believer.

My grandmother had past away the summer before on July 15, 2008 at 9:35 p.m. in the Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, New York. It had not been in sadness that the family had cried but for the loss that we had all endured. Grandma Sally was the greatest woman I had the privilege of being related too. She was one who was loved by many and touched the hearts of all of us. She lived a long life, raising 5 children has a single mother who grew to be incredible people of their own. She deserves all the rest she gets.

Grandma Sally was always about family, with the raising of 5 kids who in return gave to her 10 grandchildren who love her dearly. She was an incredibly strong woman, and somehow managed to keep 19 people who all lived in different areas, extremely close as a family. With her passing we have made it a priority to get together as that loving family once or twice every year in memory of Grandma Sally’s devotion to the love that she had created.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


A year has past since the funeral of my Grandma and the cremation of her body. The time finally came for our family of now 21, to get back together to spread Grandma Sally’s ashes. We set out for New Hampshire, where some of the family is located near a beach of the Atlantic Ocean. Grandmother’s wishes were for her to be spread out in the Atlantic Ocean, far away from land. My family went out on a boat with the urn filled with Grandma’s ashes. At the position of 40 degrees North and 070 degrees west, Grandma Sally’s wishes were fulfilled. Each member of the family took their own handful of ashes and said there final goodbyes to an amazing woman.

Now what happened next was a site that made the belief of the “something more” in me increase. My grandmother had always been a smoker. Getting up at 6 in the morning due to the need of a cigarette, this wasn’t something we all liked at all but it was what she did. During the casting away of the ashes into the ocean, a cigarette bud appeared in the water in the middle of the ashes. It wasn’t like it just appeared out of nothing. The deckhand on the boat was smoking at the time and we guess had thrown the cigarette over board, but it was just incredibly ironic, how at that very moment he had to smoke and that the bud landed in the ashes. Grandma Sally had just received her last cigarette.

Grandma Sally had owned this beautiful green colored dress that she loved so much due to the color of it. With that knowledge, the next event that took place was that when the ashes hit the ocean and started to sink into the dept, they would sparkle and turn to that color of my grandmother’s favorite green. This may very well be able to be





explained with how the salt water mixed with the ashes and science could reason out the “something more”, but it’s nice to be able to think differently. Little things like that can really make you wonder whether it was just a coincidence or something made it happen that way.

Throughout the time that the family was casting the ashes into the water my Aunt Leslie was taking lots of pictures. The ashes that had been thrown into the Ocean were making very interesting images, and Leslie wanted a picture of the ashes in the ocean. She went up to the second level of the boat and looked down into the ocean to take pictures.
Soon realizing ashes were forming an image of a cross and next to the cross was a small heart. Now my grandmother had been a strong religious woman, and just seeing the cross and the heart next to each other was definitely a sight to lay eyes upon.

After seeing the cross and heart formation a little while had gone by and Grandma’s ashes were all spread in the ocean and had slowly disappeared from sight. A small section of ashes were still able to be seen from where the boat was, and from in the middle of those ashes breached a Seal. The Seal turned its head and looked for a good 5 seconds at the boat as if looking at all the people on the back of the boat. The seal reminded all of us, of my grandmother. Her gentle nature and gracefulness, just like a seal. Some believe that once a human passes on, that they take the shape of an animal that may be their favorite or be connected in a way to the person. My grandmother liked seals and loved the ocean; the Seal became my Grandma’s symbol from that day on for me.

As we were all relaxing on the boat after experiencing all these strange but incredible events we realized that none of these things were ironic, but that Grandma had to be saying goodbye in her own way to us. It was like she was saying that she was truly happy with how everything turned out. It was still a bit baffling how things like this could really happen, but after four events took place and there was yet another to happen, I was very sure that something else was going on.

My Aunt Leslie had taken out pictures of my grandmother to show the cousins, which had become a true part of the family the day my grandmother passed, who were with us. Within this group of photos, there was a picture of my Grandma Sally with her Sister wearing the exact same color shirts. The picture was being passed and looked at by a small group of the family on the bow of the boat. It was passed from me to my cousin who was standing next to me. He had been looking at the picture for a few seconds and holding it pretty tightly, and suddenly it just blew away in the wind. The picture went straight into the ocean and we didn’t see it again.

These 5 mind boggling events took place on a beautiful day on August 9, 2009 off the coast of New Hampshire in the Atlantic Ocean. It was the most incredible day of my life and changed my view of how much of a believer I am in that “Something More”. To this day I miss the presence of my grandmother very much and to have those things be experienced with the family that I love was something I will never forget. It really makes you wonder if the ones you love are always watching over you and know how much they still mean to you in your life.

I miss you Grandma Sally.



With Love,