Wednesday, April 15, 2009

everlasting words

I’ve been admiring the cemeteries and experiencing Macon Georgia. I have to say it’s really a beautiful place. I think that Macon is so over looked, skipped and missed out on. There’s so much to do there. There is a whole museum district that so many miss.

My Mom loves cemeteries and I would normally not admit it but I’m learning that it’s not so weird to like a cemetery- Mom you’re not so weird after all! My Mom is captivated by the Rose Hill cemetery and anyone would have to agree, it’s breathtakingly beautiful, strangely mysterious and absolutely historical. I tend to not love a cemetery as much as my mom but this one is quite fabulous.
Can you imagine the thought that people use to put into special headstones, the last words that would be read about the deceased person for as long as it stays etched in the stone. Can you imagine writing out exactly what you want said on your headstone, exactly in very few words what you want to be remembered about you?

The thought, the beauty, the words will stay with you for months, possibly forever when you visit and read and soak up Rose Hill cemetery.

History, mystery, loving last words, broken but well loved statues and markers for loved ones. It’s unfathomable the effort that was put into so many laid to rest.

Bat Girl and I visited a very interesting cemetery in Hugo Oklahoma. It has a whole section of circus people that have been laid to rest there. We went to laugh, so many told us it was funny. We left humbled and heavyhearted at the words some used to describe the ones they had loved. It made us think of what we would want others to remember us by. I left wanting to remind those I loved that I loved them before it was too late. She left knowing what I wanted on my headstone.
I encourage you to visit your local cemetery, a historic one if available. Read the words, soak up the thoughts.

What do you want your headstone to say?

1 comment:

Peggy said...

I live only 1 block from a cemetery. In the last 2 weeks over $30,000 worth of damage has been done by kids (12-14 year old boys). They have been arrested, but some of the headstones that were damaged or destroyed were over 120 years old...they can never be replaced. And they even threw some of the century old stones in the river! It truly saddens me to know they had such disrespect as well as disregard for the families with loved ones there. It is such a special place for my own family. We go for walks there and spend hours reading the headstones...and visit the graves of our family that have passed before us.

I would like my stone to say, "Well done, good and faithful child."