Day 22 of 31
There is a cemetery near my home. If I decide to take a longish walk, I sometimes travel the path that leads from one street, into the cemetery and back to another street that heads me toward home. It’s a short cut that I will only take during the day. I mean, it’s a cemetery so, not a great place to walk at night.
Meandering through rows of concrete tributes
So many…weathered beyond recognition and difficult to read
Others…large and looming
Engraved with family names
Summoning those to take a closer look
Moving closer I discover
Dates of birth and death
Quotes that give meaning to lives well lived and to lives barely lived
Relationships between husbands, wives, and children
None of them lived long by today’s standards
The old man, the wife who outlived him and the baby that died at age 3
I create stories about these unknown people
Based simply on what is written in stone
I don’t walk the path often
That would be creepy
But when I do I am always surprised by how the grounds center me
It is quiet
Peaceful
Weirdly beautiful
It causes me to pause
And wonder
And
Slow
Down
My
Thoughts
At least while I walk along the path
Blogged But Unspoken 
The only cemetery I’ve ever willingly chosen to walk through was Arlington National in DC. It feels a bit morbid reading headstones and either thinking of who each person was (if they were known) or making up a story (if they weren’t), but it’s also interesting. Who they might have been, where they might have gone, who they might have loved…you can’t help being fascinated by it. But like you, it’s not something I’d do often, and certainly not at night!
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I love this! I feel the same about cemeteries now. I find it fascinating to read the names and think about who they were too. Thanks for sharing!
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So many stories of lives lived that are lost and buried there…. always so interesting. Sounds so peaceful.
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