Stingray

Grandma's Wish

When my grandmother died, her last words were to stay with Sadie.

Sadie is the stingray that she swam with as a girl, and was the best friend that a girl could ask for. When Grandmother went through her first breakup, she dove into the ocean and swam with her after finishing supper with her parents in their cabin home by the sea. Miscarriage, Divorce, Sadie was always there for her to swim with.

It's has always been that way for her. Whenever she went through tough times she went to ocean. There I was, shocked to hear that her last words in that hospital bed were to stay with Sadie and that everything will be alright. Know I understand that without her, my grandmother wouldn't even put up a fight for the cancer that she died of. Or life even on itself. That was because she knew that Sadie was always there, waiting for her to come back.

After leaving the hospital, waterline teaming with tears, I drove to her old childhood cabin by the sea. Unlocked the front door, got changed into by scuba set, and walked down to the beach.

There was small remote cove on the beach, the place where my grandmother would usually find Sadie. While diving down to find Sadie, I notice that there were about a least a dozen of plastic water bottles stuck on seaweed and coral. Grandma always picked up trash when she came down to the beach, so I did the same.

I was met what only could make me feel worse. The cave that Sadie usually called home, was baron. Her whereabouts, I assure you I was wondering about. So I swam over to the small coral reef to see where she wondered off to.

The plastic bottles that I cleaned up were just the tip of the iceberg. Plastic bags and candy wrappers were intwined with bits of coral and even some blocking the entrance of some of the animal's homes. Just as I did with the bottles, I brought the trash back up to the surface and recycled it.

When I can back down, I found Sadie. But I wasn't exactly crying tears of joy.

She was swimming around with one of those soda can rings on her head, and she was chasing a plastic bag that she had must of thought for it to be food.

By swimming on adrenaline, I quickly I arrive back on the beach and called the animal rescues hotline. 5 minutes later, they arrived.

They took her to a local quarantine facility near by the cabin and reassured me that I would not faint, despite my claims that I would. A day later I woke up and drove to the facility going 50 miles per hour.

Once I got there, I met with the doctor who treated Sadie and said she was alright. He showed me to her aquarium.

And there she was. Free again. Just as Grandma would want it.