Okay, so I have this weird fascination with cemeteries. It isn't an unhealthy thing, just something that always intrigued me for all kinds of reasons. Maybe it was the fact I was an alter boy in grade school and we had to work the funerals sometimes if it was our turn or we were asked. I remember vividly one service in winter and I guess it has stuck with me, thus some imagery you may see if you read my work. The day was very cold with snow coming down, all the while I held my candle with the wind blowing my outfit around and of course the sadness that you couldn't escape from. Stuck there trying to be considerate but unobtrusive.
Or maybe it was the old horror movies I tried to watch growing up, where inevitably they would end up in a cemetery and things didn't ever quite turn out the way the characters wanted. The scenes were electric for a young person. The mystery behind these places just grew. Here you have these plots of land that were more than vacant areas but nobody really ever goes there unless forced most of the time. I did go there actually as a boy riding his bike in a cemetery close to my house. A safe place to ride without the fear of cars mowing you down. Me and a neighbor racing around the narrow curving roads winding in and out of different groups of tombstones. Sometimes taking a break and inspection a few headstones to see what they would say and who now resided there. We took it all in trying to grasp as adolescents what adults still don't truly understand, even if they say they do. Little did I know I would be visiting several cemeteries myself not too many years down the road, quite a different impact.
Over the years I have visited many cemeteries for varied reasons; mostly for other reasons than the most common, a funeral one must attend. I love the artwork in some of the stones dotting the landscape, the grand architecture in the tombs of the wealthy and sometimes great stories if you are lucky. The words carved in stone sometimes gives you a humorous line that speaks to the departed or a word of warning, a dire message reaching out to you from the grave. My emotions in cemeteries have run the gauntlet from the standard sadness, to sheer terror and even peaceful tranquility.
Needless to say I am sure this theme will transfix me and some of my writing until the day I join all of those I have visited on many occasions. It is actually a part of one of my projects I truly hope to bring to life one day but that is top secret. That is for another time. If you haven't been to one in some time, I urge you to go for other than the normal reason. To find out if there is something you may find you didn't expect. I promise you will be surprised Until then I will keep seeking out different cemeteries in search of something, anything and I am sure I will share it with you on here.
Or maybe it was the old horror movies I tried to watch growing up, where inevitably they would end up in a cemetery and things didn't ever quite turn out the way the characters wanted. The scenes were electric for a young person. The mystery behind these places just grew. Here you have these plots of land that were more than vacant areas but nobody really ever goes there unless forced most of the time. I did go there actually as a boy riding his bike in a cemetery close to my house. A safe place to ride without the fear of cars mowing you down. Me and a neighbor racing around the narrow curving roads winding in and out of different groups of tombstones. Sometimes taking a break and inspection a few headstones to see what they would say and who now resided there. We took it all in trying to grasp as adolescents what adults still don't truly understand, even if they say they do. Little did I know I would be visiting several cemeteries myself not too many years down the road, quite a different impact.
Over the years I have visited many cemeteries for varied reasons; mostly for other reasons than the most common, a funeral one must attend. I love the artwork in some of the stones dotting the landscape, the grand architecture in the tombs of the wealthy and sometimes great stories if you are lucky. The words carved in stone sometimes gives you a humorous line that speaks to the departed or a word of warning, a dire message reaching out to you from the grave. My emotions in cemeteries have run the gauntlet from the standard sadness, to sheer terror and even peaceful tranquility.
Needless to say I am sure this theme will transfix me and some of my writing until the day I join all of those I have visited on many occasions. It is actually a part of one of my projects I truly hope to bring to life one day but that is top secret. That is for another time. If you haven't been to one in some time, I urge you to go for other than the normal reason. To find out if there is something you may find you didn't expect. I promise you will be surprised Until then I will keep seeking out different cemeteries in search of something, anything and I am sure I will share it with you on here.