A Maine mother who wanted to give her deceased son the adventures he never had a chance to have in life turned to social media in November, 2013 to ask for help scattering his ashes around the world.
Hallie Twomey says that her 20-year-old son CJ, a former U.S. Air Force member, loved adventure and travel.
She told the BBC she was looking at the urn filled with her son’s ashes sitting on her mantelpiece last November and decided she wanted to do something special to honor his memory.
“It dawned on me that his ashes would be sitting in that urn forever,” she said. “He didn’t get to see the world and I wanted to give CJ something he didn’t get a chance to have.”
After discussing her idea with her husband John, Hallie set up a Facebook page asking people if they would be willing to scatter some of CJ’s ashes in different parts of the world.
The response was slow at first, and CJ’s family thought they would be lucky if a few hundred people offered to help. But word about her mission spread, and a year later, nearly 10,000 people have offered to help her son “see the world.”
Since the BBC story about CJ’s journeys was published last week, Hallie says that hundreds more people have reached out offering to help.
Hallie has to be selective with the offers she selects now. She chooses people going to unusual places or places CJ’s ashes have never been before.
“I wish we could involve every person that offers, but we only have a finite amount of ash,” she said.
After making a choice, Hallie sends the person a small bag of her son’s ashes, a letter, and a photo of CJ.
“I ask them to let CJ know that we loved him. And the thing I need people to do most for me is to tell CJ I’m sorry. Because I am – I feel I let my son down.”
CJ Twomey took his own life in 2010 after a fight with his parents. Hallie told AP that she still hasn’t gotten over the guilt of her son’s suicide, but she has been touched over the past year by the kindness of strangers – some of them also dealing with the grief of a loved one’s suicide.
Hallie’s wishes to scatter her son’s ashes around the world aren’t unusual — many people don’t want their loved ones’ ashes to just sit in an urn. This recent Inquisitr report outlines a Kentucky company that allows you to have your ashes scattered in the stratosphere , but CJ’s went even farther than that. In October, a vial of his ashes was launched into space.
Since November, 2013, CJ’s ashes have also been to nearly all 50 states and more than 100 countries. The “Scattering CJ” Facebook page is filled with photos, such as the one below, of those who are helping Hallie give her son the special send off she wanted for him.
“I have never experienced such a collective sort of hug,” Hallie said of the response to her request. “I feel less alone, and for me that has been huge.”
