FAMILY CEMETERY

I'm usually not one that's really big on thinking about dying or walking around cemeteries, but I've also never visited a family cemetery. In Alabama, the plantation itself was an amazing piece of land that is intricately connected to this family. It was originally purchased by a great great great (old) somebody in the 1830's (I think) from the Indians.

Several dozen family members are buried in the cemetery, and it gives one an incredible sense of history and belonging to look at all your (but not my) ancestors buried in one place. Adelle could tell us something about each person- who they were, what they did, how they died and what they contributed to the plantation during their life. She's spent countless hours restoring the headstones and keeping the land neat and tidy.

It's so sad and incredibly moving to see quite a few baby graves, and in fact, it was a tiny newborn baby that was the first person buried in this family cemetery. Many of the graves are so old, the engraving in barely visible or the grave is simply marked by a weather stone on the ground.

Another interesting fact was that just over the hill and in the woods was the slave cemetery, where all the slaves were buried. Apparently it is in a horrible state of disrepair because nobody has maintained it or kept it up. Adelle is hoping to be able to return that land to the family plantation one day so that she can care for that land too.

Given the 4 deaths in my life this year, I have been confronted more and more with the inevitability of one day dying or of my parents & grandparents dying. I'm still not sure if I want to be buried, but the whole process still doesn't bode well with me. It sounds so much more pleasant to say your family has a place where their physical bodies are all brought back together in hope that their spirits are all brought back together in heaven.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Doesn't really matter where I'm buried, I've got a one way ticket to heaven.