The Last Goodbye

Note: Some photos and/or words in this post may be disturbing to you. Please skip this post if you don’t want to see it.

When I decided to cremate Chester’s remains, I’ve no idea what to do with his ashes. I spent quite some times asking opinion from friend and memorial service experts, Chinese tradition expert and also get ideas from the internet. Some keep the urn in the house, some spread the ashes on the road where they had their daily walks, some place the ashes in the soil and planted a tree or flowers, some scatter the ashes in the sea and some put the urn in a pet memorial park.

Initially, I plan to keep Chester’s urn in the house. Then I thought I would love to plant some flowers together with the ashes and spread some on our daily walking paths. My mom were against all this (Chinese tradition). The idea of scattering the ashes in the sea was in my mind too because I’ve only brought Chester to the sea once when he was quite young. He had one of the best day in the sea… he was a natural swimmer. I had wanted to bring him swimming either in the sea or swimming pool since that day and my dream never materialized.

Also, I read that it’s best to immerse the ashes in water so that he won’t be harmed by ghosts that wants to gain control of the ashes.

Finally, I made a decision. I knew what to do. I want to set him free.

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Yesterday Saturday, we collected the urn containing Chester’s ashes from the pet hospital in PJ. I was brave. Didn’t shed any tears when I was there. On the way to the car, I told Chester that we’re bringing him to the sea.

We brought him to Batu Laut beach at Tanjung Sepat. It’s located about 10km from Morib beach. I found out about this Batu Laut beach when I had dinner at Asam Batu Laut Restaurant two years back. It’s located just a short distance away after Asam Batu Laut Restaurant. This Batu Laut beach is much less populated than Morib beach which make the scattering of ashes easier.

We walked to the end of this concrete walkaway, where the blue boat rested, where the tides were coming in…

Around 5pm, 10 October 2015 at Batu Laut beach with the setting sun at the horizon, I opened the urn that contains Chester’s ashes. I was shocked. The ashes were almost full to the brim with a couples of his bones. I wore a pair of rubber gloves and proceed to scattering Chester’s ashes in the sea.

In my crying voice, I told him to have fun swimming in the sea and when he have enough fun, go on and reborn. Be a good person. I also thanked him for being with our family for 12 years. When all the ashes have found its way in the sea, I immersed the urn in water to clean any remaining ashes. Then I set the urn on the sea and see it floats away.

So that was my last goodbye to him. 🙁

I think this way was the best for him. Holding on to him will only prevent him from being reborn again. And I don’t want that. The memories of Chester and together with my first dog, Lassie are etched in my heart forever. I didn’t told him that I love him because I knew he knew. 🙂