I love graveyards. Cemeteries. Boneyards. Cities of the Dead.
They are quiet. There is a story for every stone or monument. You can visit for a conversation or just to be.
I don’t think I want my body to be buried–though that has always interested me. If I could have, I would have been a mortician. Â At the very least, a funeral director. I’m good with sorrow and calm for others (just not for myself).
There’s just something fascinating with the thought of being unearthed, Â many years in the future, and someone being curious about the life I had. Â Or making one up. Â I won’t know of course, but I like the story.
But I think it is more responsible to be cremated. I still want a tombstone though. And to have the ashes of my bygone kitties mixed with mine. Â As Is that
morbid? I find it comforting.
I don’t fully discount an afterlife, because I like the story. Â The idea of being reunited with everyone I loved, cat and otherwise, is a soothing narrative. Â And yes, I know science is fact and fact is real. Â But we all have things we tell ourselves that may or may not be true. Â This one, at least, is a soft adventure.
One of the first things I found when we moved was the closest cemetery. It is within walking distance and it is very very old.  And when I find myself missing home and friends, I can go for a walk to quiet the fear of a future without a tribe.
I guess I can be a little dark or melancholy. I’m not unhappy though. I just started thinking and I’m giving it a shot to write down the idea that stays in my mind. While I was thinking about how the world is working right now and how frightening the situation our country in in, I just wondered about whether I’d get the chance to have a funeral or if we were all going up in a flash of nuclear light.
If we do survive the next 4 years–Remember  I want a cenotaph or a bench. With something about a cat and being a mom. You could bury my ashes there too. And there should be a party where everyone does things they would have regretted when they were younger, but are now to old to care. With lots of music.
You should see the cemeteries where I am from: on a hot day, the ground is as cold as ice, cooling the air around you. Lots of sarcophagi, with mourning angels. You are not losing a tribe: you are expanding it adding new members 🙂
I bet those are gorgeous! Point me in that direction sometime. I want to get to Salem and take a look at those. And back to New Orleans.