Lady With 3 Cremation Urns

One day an elderly woman named Mary was the Uber driver for my return ride to home from work. She came in a Ferrari!!! and she was driving for Uber??? Did I fool you already? Never mind, I’m just messing around. So, she came in her Toyota Camry and she had her stuff in the passenger seat as if she already knew a curious creature was about to jump in and bug her with its talkative tongue. But, to her dismay, I swiftly moved them to the back seat and occupied the seat beside her. She smiled (I thought she might have thought, “Okay, I have no other way now!”).

This young heart was originally from California and now has settled down in Houston. It was a busy evening with moderate traffic. We started talking about casual day-to-day things and I asked her if she drives Uber everyday coz she said she was 60 years old and said she also works full-time as an accountant. Then she said she had just started this part-time job a week ago to save money for a ‘special cause’. This piqued my interest as the adjective draws my attention and I wanted to know more about it. She then started narrating her background and family history.

Mary’s Mom was an American and Dad was from the UK. When he came to the US for work, they both met in Virginia and got married. Later on, they moved to California. Ever since Mary and her brother were kids they lived in California with their parents. Her father expired a year ago which definitely was a huge loss for them. Here comes the interesting part. Mary and her brother planned to divide their dad’s ashes into three parts and perform cremation in 3 different locations. One urn was mixed in Virginia beach and the second was taken to California. Sounds good as they had memories living there.

But, can you guess where the third one is going to?

Back to the UK!!! Remember? she said her Dad was from the UK. Her paternal relatives still live there and she hasn’t visited them from a really really long time. Nearly after 20 years, Mary is planning to visit her Dad’s family in the UK and bury the third urn there.

Mary said, “I grew up with Jane Austen. By this I mean I have been reading Jane Austen and now is the time I actually can visit the place that preserves her memories. I am excited to meet my (kind of lost) family who might have scattered all over the country by now. I’m not even connected to them through any social media and it’s going to be a tough job finding their contacts and addresses. I really look forward to this adventurous trip and wish it turns out the way I hope it will.” 

I was really amazed by her energy and wished her luck in finding her relatives. I think Uber got to know that I liked the conversation with her and sent her to me the second time. Yes, I got a chance to ride with her one more time in less than a month. We both remembered each other and smiled with joy. I’ll have to agree that not having a car indeed has some perks 🙂