Thursday, October 17, 2013

My Personal Graveyard

After a long week my husband, Mike, and I wanted to do something different for a date. Mike grimaced at my idea but because he loves to see me smile, he followed me to an old cemetery with a roll of paper and charcoal in hand. We hunted the grounds reading names on the stones and studying the dates, figuring out when the poor souls left this life. Some gravestones were just rocks to us but there where others that called out. When this happened, we’d place the paper over the stone and with the charcoal, rub it causing an imprint of the history of who was buried under our feet.

We nearly filled the back seat of our car with rubbings! So many wanted do come home with us. We imagined that night, when all the ghost came out from their plots, they’d all gather together and some would brag about how their stone got picked, rubbed and how a piece of them got taken home with a living couple.

Upon returning home, I unrolled each paper and picked out my favorites. I then picked out a wall and began making my very own graveyard. To add effect, I covered the wall with black poster board and added a white moon with weeds around each of the stones. It looks amazing. Each stone has its own personality just as I imagined each of the people the stones represented did.

I think my new friends like being part of our home. I think they like being remembered again. All these graves were barren in the graveyard, they seemed sad with no flowers and just stones sticking out of the earth. In our home, they are full of life again. My kids run around playing, music is blaring, food is being cooked and friends come to visit. They gaze up at the stones reading the names and wondering who these people were and what made them smile or even cry. It’s nice to see the connection.

Last night, I couldn't sleep. I gathered my pillow and sheet and went down in the living room where my graveyard is. I laid down on the couch that is up against my cemetery wall. Right before I fell asleep, the thought came to me; I was now lying under all these graves! My first inkling was a little frightening but instead of getting up from under these stones, I stayed down and told Lilly Edwards, Cora L. Sasher, Willie Shipley and many more, ‘good night’. My bones have never rested as well as they did last night when they were under my graveyard friends.







4 comments:

  1. Graveyards can be such an interesting [lace. Just thinkof all the stories that are there. Each life is so different and unique. I love older persons because of all they have to offer, insights into things, and such wisdom. If those gravestones could only talk and pass alol of their inhabitants wisdom and insights on to us. And the art that is there. Some of those older stones are really beautiful, just like those beneath them. I am so happy you are bringing them back to life. You are amazing andbring suchjoy to both the living and the dead. Good work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, so much!! I too love the elderly. They have so much history and too often we make life busy that we forget to stop and listen to stories from long ago. Oh, and if those gravestones could talk, I would never leave the cemeteries. :)

      Delete
  2. Love gravestone rubbing. I have a wax block to use. It doesn't smudge as easily.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, thanks for the info on the wax block! I'll have to try that next time. We came out of the cemetery in a mess because of the charcoal. It was kind of funny because we went out to eat afterwards :)

      Delete