Monday, September 17, 2007

Tombstone Remembrances

Bumper sticker on the car of a genealogist: "Warning: this car stops at all cemeteries.

Yes, genealogists believe that cemeteries can be pretty interesting. Because of maintenance efficiency, however, many cemeteries won't even allow fresh flowers to be placed on the grave (plastic is usually OK). Then again, some of the more remote cemeteries not only allow live plantings, but some, as in the example above, allow the display of trinkets which may represent the deceased. You can tell this deceased fellow loved his old truck and perhaps a favorite tractor. Didn't the Egyptian Royalty arrange to have many of their life's treasures buried with them- such as gold, jewelry, and maybe a wife or two?

I think, if I have a tombstone with an unlimited display area, I would place there: a pair of old hiking boots, my vintage Raleigh bicycle with its chrome handle bar brakes, my 1969 VW bus which I converted into a camper (a modified toy version might do), copies of several genealogy reports, maybe my old wedding ring from my ex, my wooden hiking stick I carved myself, a picture of the yurt I built, and a small wooden banjo that I also made. On the back of the banjo's resonator I carved a logo of the Appalachian Trail. I believe that about covers my dreams- those accomplished and those unfinished.

If I could ever get the poll feature working at his blog site, I would love to know what YOU would place on your grave stone. In the meantime, write it in the comments section. Sorry, only one or two items allowed. Your stone is smaller than mine.

2 comments:

DirkStar said...

I would place a tuna sandwich on my stone so that birds would visit...

Anonymous said...

Dad - I can't believe you left out a laptop!?