I went there to chat with Mom or maybe, better, to talk TO her, I don’t know. I just know that sometimes when I really miss her, it just seems right somehow to visit the cemetery. She wasn’t even buried there, since she chose to be cremated with no marker for the ages. Still, it’s peaceful in the cemetery and thinking of the dead is a little more socially acceptable there.
I talked to Mom for quite a while and as I walked about aimlessly, I got a chance to meet some of her new friends. Their names were cast in stone, in the walls and in the grass.
The Jones Twins
Timothy Christopher 10-28-59 8-13-91
David Marcus 10-28-59 8-13-91
A few musical notes and a solemn “We love you” adorn the stone. Twins born, of course, on the same day and in what would seem a family tragedy, died on the same day 31 years later. They must have been very close. What tragedy befell them? Traveling on vacation together? Flying together to visit a parent?
Isabelle E Sly 1903-1933
William L Sly 1933-1933
A simpler story in stone. He lived in her belly and now lies in her arms. A nearby marker belongs to a man who ended nine months of fatherhood in the morning and began 50 years as a widower by nightfall.
Edgar Taro Aoki 1910-1933
Yaeko Aoki 1918-1994
They said they were going to spend forever together, even when that meant moving to the United States. He had to wait a long while, but they’re together again.
The stones here are old, etched by hand tools and grown in moss. Most were carefully chosen by loved ones in their moment of grief.
“Our Michael”
“Loving Memories Last Forever”
“My Beloved Wife”
“Always Loved, Never Forgotten”, this last proven by the fact that his wife joined him here, 43 years later.
If the stones are old and crumbling, the people seem fresh and new. Thier memories linger here, personalities creeping through words carved in rock. “Loved Family, Friends and Pets” still smiles on the occasional misbehaving dog. “Great Nana” and “Loving Wife, Mom, “Oma” get together and smile at the little ones. “Died at Normandy” has finally found some peace, perhaps tucked into bed by “Ida Mae Morrow, A Quintessential Quilter”. Some are always concerned when the grieving ones come like “Lifelong Caregiver” and “She was Always Smiling”. Even “The Family Comedian” knows to tone it down a bit when the new arrivals come. They might be gone from our world, but they live on here in memory and in stone.
After quite a walk and meeting a lot of new people I pause at a couple of stones.
Lewis C Hart Aug 10, 1899 May 9, 1973
Velma R Hart 1906-1981
The markers for my grandparents lie across a small courtyard from each other. I haven’t thought to bring flowers, but someone has been here before me. I take a flower from grandma’s stone and place it on grandpa’s. I know she always took care of him.
As the sun sets, I begin the hike up the hill to the car. Glancing back, I see someone out of the corner of my eye sitting on the bench I just left. A quick wink from a face that looks like Jackie Gleason, then, holding a single flower in clasped hands, they fade together. Their markers might be across the courtyard, but their hearts are a lot closer.
Mom thanks me for remembering and for taking the time. She smiles and waves, mouthing “I love you” as I start the car.
I reply “I love you too”, knowing full well that the words will never be adequate to express the feeling. A quick look inside reveals the words etched on my stone heart.
Patricia Faye Hart
Sep 9, 1943 - Apr 17, 2004
Gone from our sight,
yet here in our hearts
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Submission Name: Cast in Stone
