A woman who died before realizing her dream of traveling the world is getting her chance, according to the BBC. Wendy Chadwick, 51, a single mother from Oldham, England, died of heart disease in February.
Hoping to honor her mother’s lifelong wish to see the world, Cara Melia, 24, placed some of her ashes in a glass bottle and released them into the sea at Ingoldmells Beach in Skegness, England. Inside, she included a handwritten note that read: “This is my mum. Throw her back in. She’s traveling the world.”
But the bottle washed up on the same beach just 12 hours later, where it was discovered on June 3 by Kelly Sheridan and her family. After reading the message, Sheridan’s son threw the bottle back into the sea, a moment captured in a video shared on social media.
“Can everyone please share this far and wide in hope it finds Cara from Oldham!” Sheridan wrote on Facebook. “We found this lovely lady earlier today at Butlins, Skegness beach. She’s been thrown back in the sea as requested. Happy travels Cara’s mum.”
The post soon reached Melia, now living in Royton, who thanked Sheridan for her help in keeping her mother’s journey going.
“So many people wouldn’t have bothered,” Melia said. “I am hoping she goes further this time and finally gets a chance to travel the world.”
Melia said her mother, whom she described as quirky and someone who “absolutely loved the beach and sun,” would have appreciated the tribute. “Life happened, and my mum never got a chance to travel. Nobody was meant to find her for a bit. She was meant to be in a completely different country.”
She added that she would love for the bottle to one day wash up on a beach in Spain or Barbados.