Old City Cemetery, La Grange Texas

 

If you love cemeteries as much as I do, I'd love for you to take a walk with me.

It's early morning, the dew has set. The sun is rising brightly, it's crisp outside and it is very very peaceful...

Ssssshhhh!

We'll walk through the bluebonnets and pay homage to the greatest antiques of all in this little Texas town called LaGrange, near the Warrenton/Round Top area.

Confederate soldiers and townspeople were the first to be buried here, some as early as 1840.

Some of the head stones cannot be read but these souls are certainly not forgotten when a person like me comes to visit.

Naturally, I have no idea who these people were, but I do know they once had a story. Everyone who walks this earth has a story, just some are published, and some are not.

For those of whom remain unnoted, it is my job to stop and pause, read their namesake and create a story of them in my mind...

Something that I hope will be deserving of their nature so they will never be forgotten...

at least not by one more visitor ~ such as me.

I can walk for hours and hours in a cemetery, losing track of time and reading the details of each headstone.

Sometimes, you may even find me on my hands and knees, brushing away the weeds and leaves that cover their identity. 

I shall not let them be forgotten, not at this moment in time.

I know that "they" are not here, nor are "they" below my feet, nor somewhere below the ground.

Instead, I'd like to think that "they" are with God and "they" are creating a space for me to join them in Heaven one day.

But until then, it is their memory here on earth that I appreciate and love so much...

The memory of  family members and loved ones who felt enough for them to create these remarkable tokens of love and remembrance for future generations to appreciate.

The memory that is a symbol of perhaps their time, their money, or a symbol of their own craftsmanship.

Whatever it was at the time, they are still not forgotten.

Not even 150 years later.

And certainly not forgotten by me.

Since I am writing this story in my mind, I'll call these beautiful ornate headstones and iron gates the symbols of life and love.

Symbols of a soul that was greatly loved, yet greatly missed, whether being here for a lifetime...

  or...only for a short time. 

I mean like after all, how does one measure time really?

Would you take one second to have the chance to hold the one you love or live a lifetime of never having been touched? 

...what a story.

The church bells are ringing, we better start heading back.

The sun is high now and much time has passed.

 

I've had a beautiful visit here.

We'll walk away quietly with our heads down.

I'll be thinking of my loved ones that I miss too, knowing they are...saving a place for me.

  I glance back with a smile...for "they" are not alone...

Not here.

Not today.

Not at this moment in time.

Have a great week my friends...I have much catching up to do here at home...I've been gone for way too long!

I think I need a vacation...from my vacation!

:)