June 2, 2007
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I like cemeteries.
When I was growing up we had a cemetery down the road from our house called Circle Hill Cemetery. We would ride our bikes around the dirt road surrounding the hill that gave it it’s name. On bright nights in the summer, we would sneak down there with our large group of neighborhood kids and play sardines among it’s well manicured lawns. There was just something about stooping behind a headstone that made the whole experience that much more thrilling.
As I got older, I enjoyed rubbing headstones. NO! That isn’t a new kind of fetish…
I would take a stick of graphite, some paper and masking tape and make rubbing’s’ of the stones I liked. I haven’t really found any that are great though. I keep looking. Some day I hope to visit a few cemeteries in Europe, maybe stop by and pay homage to Jim Morrison… They haven’t kicked him out of there yet have they? I have seen some beautiful rubbing’s’ of stones from England and France. I can’t wait to go some day. It’s on the life list. Of course there are so many cemeteries here in the States I’ve yet to see.
Its enjoyable for me to see how people choose to memorialize a loved one. The statues and bits and pieces that are left behind. The words engraved on the stones, Mother, Father, Beloved Friend, Wife, Husband, Son, Daughter, Sometimes words from a beloved hymn or a quote, years of service and the war served. I wonder what mine will say. When I was a teen I wanted it to say ‘She’s not sleeping, she’s just dead.’ It was that whole teen angst thing I’m sure.
When Charlie was younger, he was going through his DEATH stage, We were driving past a cemetery when he asked about headstones and why people put them on their graves. I told him it was so they had a place to go to remember the person they loved. Usually the stone reminds them of who that person was and what they meant to the world. He pondered this. I could see the little adolescent cogs turning in his head. Then he took a deep breath. “A Transformer Mom… That’s what I want put on top of me, a Transformer and maybe a bulldozer, but definitely a Transformer.”
Remember The Bird Girl?
So many people fell in love with this statue they had to remove it from the Savannah cemetery it called home.
This fellow seems to be popular.
I’m not really in a morbid mood, these are just things I’ve been thinking about. I guess that once again I’m entertaining myself at your expense.
Have you ever taken the time to write your own obituary?
That would be a great way to reflect and evaluate a life. Why not do it before we’re dead?
What would you like your headstone to say?
Comments (161)
I LOVE cemeteries! Not just because I’m an aging goth and all that I just do. So peaceful…so beautiful…the history. Love it all.
I love cemeteries, especially old ones. Bruce hates them, so I rarely get to just stop and look around while we’re out and about. Once we did, though, and all the graves were really old, from the early 1800s. It was out in the middle of nowhere, and there was a single grave that had fresh flowers on it — it was a baby who had died in 1803 or something. I always wondered who “adopted” that baby.
Trish
mine would read….”He did not know how well he sang, it just made him whole” (from Mr. Tanner by Harry Chapin)
interesting post Ang
I am strange and like things like cemetaries too.
I also like real deep horror movies.
My headstone would probably read :
Here lies Margaret
She was misunderstood
Was very loving, out spoken, friendly,
foolish, cooked, crafted, always
helped out people, she tried her best
but in the end , she died alone.
I’ve performed a few funerals. I remember one particular grave site ceremony. My topic was the dash between the years on the grave marker. Our life is reduced to a dash.
I’m so glad heaven doesn’t have a - .
Headstone: That’s a difficult one – I’ll have to give it more thought.
Thank you for commenting on my “Featured Grownups” post.
Sorry your having trouble with the site.
Yesterday I went to so many sites and it seemed
like twelve of them wouldnt let me comment, three
I had to shut down, and four wouldnt refresh and let me see.
Sometimes when I have trouble brew like that someone
on the xanga team is usually updating.
RYC yeah I have heard the song, I went nuts on my
posts just because as a fool I have to be foolish.
My grandpa used to joke that his headstone should read “I told you I was sick!”
I would like a quote from Sting on my headstone: Consider me gone.
My Hub has a friend who’s headstone has a quote from Greenday: It’s something unbelievable, but in the end it’s right. I hope you had the time of your life.
not morbid… death is reality. completing mortaility is normal.
My headstone:
Bubblz
Gone
But Still Giggling
RYC: The treatment wasn’t bad. I was young so I didn’t think of the danger.
I LOVE CEMETERIES TOO!!! I love to read the names…I know where there is an Amanda married to an Amandus!
My obit ….she was to blunt but we loved her anyway.
I do not want people looking at me when I am dead!
I also love cemeteries. Especially in the rain or just before sunrise. Great pics!
I do not want to be embalmed! I wish I could but I can not be a doner b/c of Hep C.I want a nice Fieldstone too and I my husband said the same thing,I told him if he can not cermate me to chuck me in the ground .I have an aversion to being embalmed!!
I love “The Angel of Grief” Statue http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2001/april18/gifs/mausoleum_angel2_180.jpg
I like cemeteries during the day but not at night!!!!! I have seen the bird girl…of course that was years before she was famous!!! Have a lovely day.
My obit would say: “Darn. I KNEW I shouldn’t have eaten that last donut!”
Cemeteries are wonderful places.
My headstone would say:
“Why, yes. You were the death of me.”
I, too, like walking through cemeteries–especially old ones.
Oh yea…I did have to write my own obituary in 12th grade pschology class.
My headstone would say….
Jesse’s MOM
You should see the cemetery in Santiago, Chile. It’s beautiful. It’s a like a park, a peaceful memorial to people’s lives, so different from the feel of so many American cemeteries. Whole families are buried together inside these big stone mini-houses, almost, some with statues of top, each with its own style. They’re truly incredible. We also went to one cemetery in Paris that was similar, but it had a highway overpass right on top, somewhat less peaceful and quiet…
I love cemeteries as well and one day I hope to do a photo blog of some tombstones since there are so many old cemeteries around here. In our town we have the resting place of Patsy Cline. That would be an interesting rubbing.
as kids we used to play in the cemetary by my house too. good times
I haven’t had the chance to prowl around cemeteries, though if I ever got the chance to go to an old one where some of my ancestors are buried, it might be interesting.
Yes, I have written my obituary. It was a very interesting experience. I blogged about it a while back (I think the post is private now, though). And I don’t want a headstone, so I haven’t really thought about what I’d want it to say.
Very interesting
We had to write our own obits in auditing class. Then the professor took the time to criticize how many of us had pipe dreams. Terrific guy!
Thankyou. I was having fun editing everything.
The problem is, if I don’t settle, nobody comes along that understands what I’m all about.
Maybe the real me is just dormant. If so she should wake up soon.
I enjoy visiting a cemetary every once in a while. It’s nice to see how a person was loved by their family .. or not loved as the case may be.
My headstone would probably say … “she put the F.U back into fun, but died a horny, miserable old lady”.
Great posting… I too am a cemetary fanatic… I really wanted to see the New Orleans cememtaries before Katrina… they’ll be different I’m sure now. I’ve thought about my funeral, but not my headstone. I simply won’t have one. I’m to be cremated and my ashes will be spread under this old tree in Blarney Castle gardens in Ireland. I figure the people who will remember me can remember me best in their hearts, not on some stone.
She gave it all she had.
Oh yes, I love the cemeteries… the first house my husband and I lived in (a rental) was kitty corner from a cemetery and when ET my first son was born, I use to take him for walks throu it… I love the energy in cemeteries mostly calm and peaceful…
when I die, I want to be planted (made into fertilizer) or cremated… and my obit, something about me being loud and having a big mouth, and how much fun I am when I’m drunk!!!
ttfn…
Aren’t cemeteries just so…peaceful.
I request that I be embalmed to make sure I’m really a goner.
Yes I have written my own obit. I think there should be more than just who you are kin to don’t you?
There is an old, mostly abandoned cemetery near my home. One of the gravestones has the person’s name and then under it “MURDERED in Dallas, Texas” – I think the date was in the 1890s. Someone had a story to tell.
I have no idea what Ocytosin is. The meanings I look up are all vague.
I’m talking about people in general…I tried to be myself and wait for someone like me, but they just don’t exist. I met a couple of people that were closer to what I was than most people, but they graduated so I shan’t see them again. The people I bonded with aren’t like me, but I learned to love who they were, but they just keep leaving. My best friend’s moving to England for 2 years, the other one graduated and her boyfriend uses the car, so she never sees me at all, the other 2 graduated and are going to Boston, my other good friend is going to rehab for 2 years, in addition to things that have happened previously where I’ve been afraid to get close to what I thought were my best friends again because of major drama and how they never were there for me. It’s just hard to find someone who can be a stable friend. So I’ve got to settle for people I wouldn’t usually, but at least they’ll be there for the rest of the course of my schooling.
I think the most interesting cemetaries I have ever seen are the ones in New Orleans. The prettiest I’ve seen are in Georgia and Virginia. I’ve never heard of the game “sardines”! No headstone for me…my instructions are to sprinkle my ashes in a special place in Florida. I haven’t written my own obit, there’s too many other things I’d rather write! Peace
What a great post!!! I love cemetaries…the older the better. I saw two very old ones in TN this past summer. One going back to the Civil War! I love reading the headstones…and noting the dates of people’s lives, etc. I feel like my taking the time to pause and read and think about their life makes their life just a little more worthwhile and meaningful! Wow, I love this post!
My Hubby says my headstone will say, “I told you people I was sick!” Teehee! That’s because I never get any normal ailments…mine are always hard to diagnosis or they never do get diagnosised. The Doc’s are always baffled. Oh well!
Thanks for letting me stop by!
not sure what my headstone should say. Never even had the thought cross my mind…
A life well wasted
As a kid we used to love to play hide-n-go-seek in the grave yard. Hope you enjoy your day fishing with Pop.
” look behind you, ZOMBIES!!!!!!!!!!!” that’s what I want mine to say.
I really like cemetaries, too. I have a cache hidden on one that’s been more or less abandoned; the forest has taken over and there are headstones that seem to be in no particular order. The trails in the area just meander around and you never know when you’ll find another among the ferns. It’s beautiful — many people have disturbed deer while walking through, too. The oddest stone there (from a geocacher’s prespective) says “GEO. M. CAGEN — SEPT 25 1859 – MAY 15, 1915 — AT REST” At first glance it could read GeoCachin’…
Great question. I will have to think about that. I have several friends who love cemetries either to hang out or to do rubbings.
Hey girl, I don’t plane a head stone but if I did it would say see you on the flip side!
I find the idea “she isn’t sleeping she is just dead” good for a headstone. I can imagine to write that : ”I’m not sleeping, I’m just dead”.
We don’t kick Jim Morrison out of the cementery of Paris, I swear it !
When you come to Europe, visit me, please ! I give you my adress before !
Ang we go on the cemeteries twice a year , at All Saints day and Palm Day . I visit all the graves of the family : parents , grand parents and uncle and aunts in a area located to 150 km from Amiens where we live . For me it ‘ s a way to tell hello to them . I know I would be able to think of them in remaining in my house but I pay the visit in homage and love .
Love
Michel
you like cemeteries? You weirdo. heh, I like them, too–during the day. Those, once again, are nice photos.
I really like you , too, Ang–who wouldn’t? I think we’d get along in real life. In the meantime, even of we never meet, I, too, am glad that we met here–you’re awesomeness
Oh, and if smiling has become a habit–so be it–you can always spill your guts here if you’re ever feeling blue. I am sure you also have a lot of nice folks who love you in real life.
oh, and thanks for the compliment (about my looking the same). You’re too much
it vacillates between a headstone and a dirt nap to having ashes scattered in all my favorite places (I understand this is not legal and would involve a bit of secrecy and a trusted accomplice)
Cemetaries are cool! Love all of the different graphics and statues. What is ‘sardine’-is it a game of sorts? Hope your Sunday is great-my weekend has been marvelous! (daughter gone for the weekend). Love to you.
Anyone liking cemetaries shoud visit the web site called ‘findagrave.com’ its a virtual cemetary -
RYC: Yes, I meant the adult American public. I don’t think children need to be ushered in to this kind of testimony before they start asking questions. But if the parents are open-minded and informed I think it encourages more informed educational platform… one that includes tolerance and awareness of what is honestly out there.
What an interesting line of thought. I’ve always found non-American traditional forms of cemetaries and memorialization much more fascinating. There’s something about the perfectly clipped lawns and systematically separated tombstones that make American cemetaries seem generic to me. Can a cemetary look cliche? I think of my tombstone often…I just don’t usu. share my thoughts on it because they are morbidly hilarious…uh…only to me?
(i.e. “i’ll be back,” “get over it, i am,” “there is no afterlife,” sigh…my poor friends and family)
My favorite cemetary is in New Orleans and then there is the one in Dallas where Clyde Barrow is buried, I think they finally buried Bonnie there too, that cememtary is pretty cool!
Great to hear from you.
Hugs, Tricia
RYC…………………I like that………….she really got around…………
I like cemetaries but I’m not strange. People who don’t like cemetaries, now they’re the strange ones.
~ Drac ~
gravestone rubbings are a truly incisive way of reflecting upon death – whether you choose to see it as the end of one’s life, as a matter-of-fact event of evolutionary biology, or else… Some of us truly fear death and choose to ignore it until it stares at us in the face; and in this sense, considering what you want in your obituary or the engraving on your tombstone is a truly surreal act of pausing life for a couple of minutes in order to choose what we want others to remember us for…I don’t think I could ever write an obituary or a tombstone engraving for myself…this was a interesting entry
Hello Angie…
Yes…Its been a long long time….so I was reading your xanga…and I just had to comment.
This morning at work around 5:30am…I got a call from a man who wanted to talk to someone at the
local funeral home. He sounded irritated that people call it a celebration of one’s life during the wake.
He didnt want people to call it a celebration of his life…but, to just say he wasnt feeling well.
Yes…He did sound intoxicated. ***Yes, its a tad goofy ~ but ~ thats the story***
I have often said…people should write their own obits. I think they are best to say what they want listed.
I hope that all is well with you…I have been reading your blogs daily keeping up with you and yours.
Stay Well…Penny
You’re right, there is something about cemetaries. As a kid I used to feel frightened excitement at the thought that I was treading upon dead bodies…too many zombie movies on a Friday night. As an adult, I find them quiet, peaceful places and am often intrigued by the elaborate old headstones and inscriptions. There are plenty left in England if you ever come over for a visit.
My epitaph…I would want a headstone in the shape of a huge rounded arse which would say underneath…see, even in death you can still kiss my butt hehe
Why stop with writing your own obituary. Get a video recorder and do your own Eulogy.
As far as my tombstone goes, I will be perfectly happy getting one with two dates on it.
Not real big on cemetaries only because I’ve been to alot of funerals in the last couple years. Personally, I’m gonna be cremated (no headstone) but my kids have strict instructions to sprinkle me in Tiger River at our zoo. (it’s not legal but I told them to take me in a paper bag like I’m lunch, no one will ever know!)
Here in Dayton we have the Woodland Cemetery, the place where Paul Lawrence Dunbar and the Wright brothers are buried. It’s an enormous piece of real estate, very expensive to lay in, with white marble statues, and mausoleums the size of two story houses, all laid out on a hill that overlooks the city. However, the more interesting cemeteries are all in the smaller towns about the countryside. Those with their stones protruding from the ground at odd angles, and huge, dark trees growing up between the neglected graves … those are the places that fascinate me.
i remembered once my teacher told me the most important thing to do before your death is to take a good picture of yourself. Because without a good picture till the end of your life seems so pathetic. Well. haha
My husband and I love seeing the old cemeteries… it made for cheap dates, LOL. Walking amidst the gravesites, trying to make out what the headstones say… it’s all fascinating to us.
My headstone? “I TOLD you I was sick.”
V
Featured!! And on my post too!! You are so popular~~
I don’t like to go to the cemetery because it’s a very scary place to be going to at night or even at daytime too! I can’t stand the graveyard no more it has terrible and a horrible monsters like zombies and frankstein and ghosts and ghoulins and werewolves and slimy creatures and angry cats and angry dogs and especially draculas and witches too so going to the cemetery wasn’t my type of a favorite thing to go to so i’m not going to go to a cemetery for sure and I am staying away from the place too! If anyone ask me to go to the cemetery to like dig a gravestone to see who the person really is that you known for years lies onto the funeral coffin and die for a reason then you will know that one person is covered in blood, digusting blood if it’s a real blood not a fake one and had been killed by a dangerous murder person then that dead person has lost their own life and torn out too ! when a person is dead, then that means you lose your own energy and you can never ever be alive again! you have to stay dead longer enough to let the people put that person to rest so it is remains R.I.P. ( Rest In Peace ) God Bless them all!
When I was in high school I worked as a cemetary custodian. It was a very peaceful job and the people I worked for never complained.
my headstone would probably say ‘FINALLY!’ but my obituary would just be like ‘survived by blah blah blah loved to read..’ boring things like that. i learned how to ride my bike in the cemetary where my brother is buried, so i have a special place in my heart for it.
when i was little we used to live right next to one. it was great. i’d bike through it with my dad in the warmer seasons, and sled on it in the winter.
my headstone would read——–”his cardiologist says his heart sounds good”
I was about 40 miles from my house the other day and I drove past a cemetary called “Confederate Rest Cemetary.” If I wasn’t alone and it wasn’t dusk, I swear I would have stopped in.
I love cemeteries because they remind me of an era that I was not a part of. The older the headstone, the better. It gets my gears turning…sorta like, I wonder what it was like to be that person…you know? Or even worse, I always make conjectures about how people died. For example, there was a plot with two headstones – one regular sized and one tiny. The regular one was a 25 year old woman…the tiny one was a baby. And it’s like, how sad, you know?
Anyway, enough rambling. I think I just out-morbid-ed you lol.
Haha.. my dad’s into geneology (the study of family history… I’m not explaining it because I doubt your intelligence.. I’m explaining it because I doubt my dad’s taste in his obscure hobbies, aheh.) so I have tons of memories, as a kid, of LONG Sunday drives through the country, stopping at cemetaries and spending hours there while he did research.
Some say macabre… I say: “TAG R.I.P., UR IT!”
I have been to cementeries once or twice a year since I was a child to give respect to my grandparents and great grandparents, whom I have never seen them. It’s an Asian thing where we serve them with food, money, clothing, etc. On my headstone, I would say “Well, now…go to an amusement park”.
Cemetaries are windows into people of the past. I liked them and still am fascinated by them today; it is not morbid, its just a fascination. Love and Light, LC.
cemetaries are amazing. they’re great settings for photos.
sadly tho, i moved. and i haven’t found a really great looking cemetary anywhere near here, yet. so photography there has been on a standstill. =
great topic. kudos. (=
Just cruising xanga and read this interesting post and all the comments. I was unaware how many of us have get the same enjoyment out of reading tombstones-I especially like the stories old headstones tell and like going on Veterans Day and Memorial Day as most cemeteries are so decked out.
When my dad died, we found in his things that he had written his obituary. Amazingly, it was similar to the one we had wrote for him. It was his own account of his life, and confirmation to us kids that we had got it right. So, writing your own obit is a good idea. Thanks for a great post!
I’ll have to tell my daughter about the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil statue-she loves that movie and would appreciate the trivia.
When I was little I used to be afraid of cemetaries. And I would do that thing where you lift your feet off the ground and hold your breath when you pass one in the car. I’ve always been a strong believer in the paranormal, so I guess I thought that ghosts of the people in the cemeteries would come and steal me, you know, make me one of them. But I’m not like that anymore. Now, I dislike any chance I get to go to one, because the only one I’d ever go to would be the one where my grandpa and best friend are buried, but they are really beautiful in a twisted morbid sort of way. I like to pass them in the car more now (although most of the time I start singing “Cemetery Drive”). See how the older head stones are big and elaborate, and some of the newer ones are just plaques on the ground. I personally haven’t ever really thought about what I would put on my headstone. I’ve always thought that if I died a teenager then I’d be cremated and sent to sea, so that I got a chance to see the world, but I’m not 20 yet, so I don’t know what my tombstone would say. I do know I want to be buried in a black and red dress tho.
Man, I never knew so many people liked cemeteries. My new house faces one. Quiet neighbors.
I think I’d like mine to say “So will she meet you up there?”
It’s not a morbid thought, this, it’s actually really meaningful. Made me ponder about certain things, thanks for helping me to appreciate life more
i love the old cemetaries with tombstones in different languages — we have one down the road from our house with Czech graves from the 1800s — even without knowing what they said they were pretty amazing.
what a coincidence… I was going to go visit this cemetary that is special to me just last night…. but things got in the way, ugh. I’ve never written an obituary but I keep a list of people that are “invited” to my funeral, it’s just a list I’ve been building up over the years of people that were important to me in some way and when I die I hope they are all contacted so they can be there…. just seems like a good way to end it.
“They’re coming to get your Barbara….”
Never written my obituary, never thought about what I’d want on a tombstone.
I figure, when the time rolls around for it to matter, I’ll be dead and won’t care either way.
my grave shouldn’t say anything… i’ve told everyone to bury me out in the backyard with our pets. just put a cement stone over top of me and i’ll decay in peace. my spirit won’t be there anyway.
MY friends and I used to go to cemeteries just to sit and feel. We would do the same thing read the headstones and ponder about that persons life.
I think I would want my headstone to say this…
Here lies our Grandmother, Mother, Sister, Daughter and Friend.
She came, she saw, she conquered!
I wish I could have your attitude. I’ve been scared of them my whole life. My aunt works at one and we’ve had a constant string of funerals in the family since I was a kid. My maternal grandmother dies when I was 7 and I spent the weeks and months after afraid of waking up in a grave. No lie.
I also enjoy cemeteries…and recall playing games at a couple as a kid. Fond memories. I did make the trek to see Jim Morrison’s grave. It was a high school class trip to Paris and I basically told the teacher that since we were in the cemetery already (to see like…David and Chopin), that we HAD to see Jim Morrison’s. It took quite awhile to find…and it’s not as impressive as I’m told it once used to be, but still worth the journey.
I like graveyards, too. I don’t really know why.
My tombstone might read:
So, what did you think you ate at the reception?
How did I taste?
I go to cemetaries all the time. I’m even taking a trip this summer to visit some of the colonial cemetaries in New England. I think there is a lot of history and it is very breath taking and beautiful
Headstones can be very beautiful I always wonder, when I see a marker thats been weathered and withered away by time, if there are any family members left, I wonder, if someone still visits or if this persons grave is now unvisitied, and unloved…
Never really thought about writing my own obituary..although it would be interesting to try…
i like seeing cemeteries from a distance, but i’ve got a keen sense of smell, especially for decay and certain chemicals–a curse, so getting too close really bothers me. (accidents also trouble me.) wow, and the fluid they use at the funeral palors reeks!
I’ve always loved cemetaries, even in my pre-goth phase when I was a kid. I think they’re really peaceful, and a nice way to remember those who are never really gone. I also think it’s interesting to wander a cemetary and try to find the oldest gravestone there. There’s a graveyard in my mother’s neighborhood that’s mostly Jewish, and a few of the oldest gravestones from the 1800′s are written purely in Hebrew. It’s amazing.
I don’t think I’d ever write my own obituary. But I do wonder what people would say about me after I’ve gone on…
I think I want my headstone to say something incredibly cheesy like, “Never stop dreaming.”
But I’m just a sap like that.
Some ppl might think ur weird bcuz of that, but I think ur pretty interesting. It is pretty cool how sum1 likes 2 remember their loved ones! All 4 now!
Good question…. Mine would probably say something like: “Smile. Or else.”
=] I find cemetary’s nice places to be. I like how its usually quiet there and peaceful. Sometimes, i can’t help but think that the people who have passed on would have a much better understanding and appreciation for life than most people whom are alive today.
Tootles ~
Yeah, Like most people who have commented, I too love cemetaries. I swear it’s hereditary, since my mother loved them too. I’ve only been to, maybe five or six in my life time, and only twice so far have I gone because of a funeral.
It’s nice to think that, in a way, the people who lie there, who lived, laughed, cried, and saw their world (for however long, regardless of years, or days) that their memories live on in someone’s heart, somewhere.
At least, that’s what I think.
-V
I love cemetaries too.
They had to remove it? I don’t know. I just hate when things like that happen. That’s sad, and a little bit stupid, I think.
Cemetaries are my favorite place to hang out. Where I live, there’s actually a very well known confederate cemetary a few miles up the road. Me and my mom went up to it a few weeks ago. It was so peaceful and quiet, and you could feel the history oozing out of the graves. When I was a kid, we lived right across the street from a cemetary.
I went to the Vienna Central Cemetary last summer, mainly to see the graves of Beethoven, Brahms, Strauss, and Schubert, but to be honest their graves were almost bland compared to some of the others!! People probably thought I was strange to be taking so many pictures of graves of people I didn’t know, but the statues were absolutely beautiful. I’d recommend putting that cemetary on your life list too.
i love cemeteries myself also, when my sisters and I were little kids, my gma used to take us out with her and we would clean up sticks, mow, ect… it was always interesting the gravestones we found. Theres one cemetary up in Plainview, NE that has Severely Old Headstones that a great deal of them have fallen over or are so deteriorated that its just a blank sheet of stone. Creepage but awesomeness!
I want mine ot say something wittty, like
evil never dies,’ or ‘I’ll be back’
Once for an Art project, we made our own tombstones out of paper mache’
I thought it was entertaining. I guess because it was during the halloween season
I always loved old cemeteries and looking at the old, old stones. They told stories of how people died, who they loved and where they lived. So much history.
However, I hate them with a passion at night..they creep me out. But during the day, I could get lost in one.
I actually wrote my own obituary several times over. I had a creative writing teacher that told us to write our obituaries so I made some stupid stuff up about falling off the Eiffel tower, but I thought about it and wrote something later. I think that it puts a lot of stuff into perspective for us. Too many people think that they’re immortal. We’re all going to die…we’re really just waiting for our number to be called.
I like cemetaries!
I want mine to say “I TOLD YOU I WAS SICK”
I learned to drive in a cemetery. Seemed like a safe place! LOL
My aunt is buried next to (very close) Stevie Ray Vaughn. They can’t even keep a headstone for him cause so many steal it or deface it. There is always beer cans and bottles around his grave.
St. Francis is pretty much a badass.
I find cemeteries to be the most peaceful place to take a nice walk. Everyone says Im crazy for thing that but its true. I love reading the names and talking to random graves.People think Im odd for that as well. When I lived in Michigan and went to my friends dads house we would sneek into the cemetery and pick up the trash and golf balls and fixed the flowers that had fallin over or got blown away by the wind. Ive never even thought about writing my own obituary. but on my grave Id like the lyics to my favorite song.
We hold in our hearts the sword and the faith
Swelled up from the rain, clouds move like a wraith
Well after all, we’ll lie another day
And through it all, we’ll find some other way
To carry on through cartilage and fluid
And did you come to stare or wash away the blood?
Well tonight, well tonight
Will it ever come?
Spend the rest of your days rocking out
Just for the dead
Well tonight
Will it ever come?
I can see you awake anytime, in my head
Did we all fall down?
Did we all fall down?
Did we all fall down?
Did we all fall down?
From the lights to the pavement
From the van to the floor
From backstage to the doctor
From the Earth to the morgue, morgue, morgue, morgue
Well tonight
Will it ever come?
Spend the rest of your days rocking out
Just for the dead
Well tonight
Will it ever come?
I can see you awake anytime in my head
All fall down
Well after all…
Desert Song by My Chemical Romance its just so beautiful though I think it will change by then but I hope it doesnt.
I used to live near a cemetary. As a kid I would visit with my mother, looking at the old stones. I really liked the Woodmen of the World head stones shaped like tree trunks. As a teen I would visit with friends, it was a great place to sneak cigarettes.
I like cemeteries too. Ours here in town has a beautiful large stone made of white granite that has all the words and notes to the song “Beyond The Sunset.” (All the verses.) It is the grave of Virgil Brock and his wife, who wrote the song. We buried my dad in the same cemetery this year. He always loved the upright markers. They’re not allowed in Long Beach where he lived most of his life. After we brought him here, I ordered a black stone that has his name and the beginning of Ps. 27 on it…..”The Lord is my light and my salvation.” The back of the stone has a beautiful picture of the oriental rug store that my grandparents built, and my dad worked at and later ran. It looks just like the rug co. looked, only better. My dad would have loved it, but he had Alzheimer’s and I didn’t think he would understand, so we never showed it to him.
I love cemetaries too! Whenver I’m sad, I want to go to the cemetary in my city. I guess you could say it’s my “Tiffany’s”, like Breakfast at Tiffany’s. And yes, I had to write my obituary for a class. Oh, gosh, it was swell.
Wow, I thought I was the only one who liked cemeteries. I like visiting the old ones the best. My husband doesn’t care for them at all, or else I’d probably visit them more often!
I’ve thought it would be amusing if my headstone said “So…hungry…”, or “Yummy!”.
XD
I am keeping a journal (xanga) so my kids can
read it for my funeral.. i guess my headstone would
say, “Be happy.”
My headstone.. Hmm.. I want it to say something about what a great writer and philosopher I am, not ‘was’; am.
a guy took my to a cemetary on a date a few weeks ago. this was weird. interesting entry!
my language arts teacher amde me write my own obituary for class last year.
one girl in my class got so upset at the idea of her own death that she burst out crying in the middle of class.
Wow, you’re still on the front page. Cool! B-)
Thanks for becoming a member and giving me some much needed inspiration. I know the site is sort of hacked together at this point, but I’m working away at it. Later!
I adore cemetaries…
I adore cemetaries…
Obit; Son of two, father of 4, husband of one, friend to many, Servant of One
Headstone; Yes dear I’m sure I shut the power off
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn’s rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die…
-Anonymous
This is a favorite verse that many chose to have on their headstones. Comforting words are sometimes all that remains of us.
S. Majere x
do they write obits in korean too?
haha.
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cemetries, the only place you can read your books in peace during teenage summers…
In a high school english class writing one’s own obituary was an assignment that I actually looked forward to. However, I never did do that assignment as a few days before the assignment was assigned my dad died and I couldn’t handle it at that time. It might be interesting to go write one now though.
cementary are cool. especially the old one or the “abandoned” one (like out of city-ish)
Be the change you wish to see in the world-Ghandi
My headstone? That’s a hard question for anyone, I’m sure. I would like to be remembered as a writer, though and I want some of my own work read at my funeral. Hopefully, that’s a long way off, though.
I LOVE THEM TOO!!! i dont want a stupid plaque when i die i want a real headstone! i swear that if they dont give me one i’ll haunt their asses!
“here lies david saint hubbins, and why not?”
wow, interesting
mine might say “I’ll be back”
I had a boyfriend who lived by a cemetery, and we use to walk his dogs there. So I like that one.
My headstone? I want a tree planted on top of my grave, instead of a stone. Maybe a little one with my name on it in front of the tree.
-Amber
i dont know why, im scared of cemetries…
my dad was gonna buy a property near this big cemetry, it wasn’t all that close to it but i told him not to buy it. i think there is just something inside that makes me feel uneasy wen i see cemetries..
im fine with it during day time..but at night….thats a no no =.=!
..btw..id thought u’d say “she’s sleeping, she’s not dead.” lol
HI~
I still find cemetaries a bit too gloomy for me. Too peaceful and it makes me feel scared? Maybe because I’m still young, but I find cemetaries a very sad thing, and I have yet to take in the beauty of it.
When I was a kid, I used to be scared around cementaries. Whenever we drove by a cementery, I would put my head down until my mom told me that we passed it or I would turn the other way. I was afraid that if I looked at the cementary, I would see people walking or children playing. Until 2000 when my father passed away, I finally confronted myself. I had to go pay my respect and by paying respect, I needed to go by myself. Since then, I realized if I don’t bother anyone, nobody would bother me.
Back in Vietnam, my village was built on/in a cemetery. I spent my childhood there for a number of years, so I’m kinda fond of cemeteries. And that’s thanks to my good ol’ childhood memories.
Congrats on making the front page with this entry!
Dead people live there… I like to go to grave yards just to see if anything will pop out… I especially love the older graves … I like lying on them…
not really
But I do enjoy the solitude of the forgotten ones
Quite an interesting post! I really like this, and in fact am enthralled by what you have wrote. As an avid writer who tends to be self-indulgent. I’d say I would wholeheartedly write my own obituary, however trying to be humble and somewhat self-loathing at the same time to avoid grandiosity. I’d just like my headstone to read, “Finally, we’re not disturbing her. May her mood swings come to a cease, even in death.” Yeah, that’s the bipolar child in me speaking. Good job.
favorite cemetary -Barkerville, B.C. The view was spectacular, the headstones and sayings were honest and simple. Love the aboriginal graveyards along the route to Prince Rupert -small houses hold the body. As for this body, whatever the family needs to do with it….for me cremation makes sense, it doesn’t take up land…gets me to thinking about the Tibetan charnel grounds. -g
I love cemetaries, too. When I was growing up, there was one behind our church. It was our playground. There’s just something about it, isn’t there.
i don’t think it’s weird to like cemeteries because a lot of times when i pass people riding in their cars, i tend to wonder where they’re going and what their life is like.
I also love it when I’m in places like Disney World and I pass thousands of people and I only hear snippets of their conversation. Sometimes they’re hilarious and sometimes it’s kinda like “whaaaa?” I absolutely love it.
A cemetery is kinda the same way. I wonder what kind of life they led and if they had anything they wanted to tell the world.
Stuff like that. Glad I’m not the only one who thinks like that.
Love it! I get in moods where I want to do this kind of thing…but have never done it.
good question. i don’t know what i would put on mine but i have one for a baby or like a 3yearold
“If I was so quickly done for, I wonder what I was begun for.”
Still lovin this post~~~
hi Ang…..i used to sell burial plots, at chicago’s Rosehill Cemetary…..one devil worshipper has an above ground black marble ground crypt, with the number 666 on it….that isn’t as creepy as the owner , who is goth looking (black hair, 3″ black nails, and eye liner), and spends summer afternoons, laying on top of it….needless to say, no one owns the plots, on either side of him….haven’t figured out my obit, yet….probably, “a passionate man”…..i do, however, like the idea, of being laid out naked, and face down…..one reason, someone always shows up on a bike, and will need somewhere to park….second reason, so everyone can kiss my ass goodbye……he he he ..i’ll update later, about Diana’s graduation ceremony….it’s at 7:00…………big hugs…..animal
I’m a cemetery lover too. I love the ones that are in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. Our family has a cemetery of its own that is often opened up to people who need to be able to bury a loved one without much expense. A charity cemetery, I guess?
My headstone won’t read anything. I want to be cremated then scattered in the ocean. Leave the ground to rest. It has better things to do than cover my dry bones.
mines would say . i told you i was sick .
=]
http://www.geocities.com/prrt352/weatherly.html
this is in my area [pennsylvania]
it’s pretty creepy, esp. at night :p
i’m not sure what part of the country you live in; but if you ever come here you should visit that place if you have some free time
Cemetaries and Death is an obsession of mine, and everyone thinks it’s “scary” or whatever, but I find it beautiful. I wish I had a cemetary closer by to sit a write poetry and music to the shells of souls that dwelled here.
I like graveyards too. Especially the very old ones.
Hmmm, what do I want on my headstone? Well, probably something like:
“Devoted fan of PotC. May the wind be always at your sail.”
lalala,,imjust bored
This was a wonderful post, I liked your story.
Hmmmm….What would I want on my headstone? That is an interesting question, I have never really thought about it before. I will have to give that one some thought. I have read some interesting headstones before, like one that said, “I’m watching you.” Which apparently at the time wasnt supposed to be creepy, but was comforting to the family because it meant the person was watching over them from heaven. But I don’t know…I think it would be just creepy to read that!
Alisha
i never thought of what to write on my obituary but now well it will say sing to me any song you want when you come by to visit..lol..reason being it’s bcuz i would sing all the time to those who i knew that passed away. yeah i would do that haven’t heard of anyone done that yet.
random moods86
i adore cemetaries. there’s something very…calming about them, strange as it sounds. they always make me wonder; who were these people, what did they accomplish in their lives, who still remembers them? there’s one up the road from me; i like to visit. it gives me time to think.
also; there is one i’ve been to you should visit if you ever get the chance. we went last summer while on vacation. [yes, i specifically set aside time for it.] it’s at shasta state park in california. a little back in the woods down a road. i’m sure there are directions if you google it. some very old headstones, some caged off and creeping with ivy; semi-forgotten but very beautiful.
My epitaph will point to the dash between my birth and death, and say, “For further details, read [insert the book title for my life story (in semi fictional format)].”
Or I might copy Mana’s nonsensical epitaph from D.Gray-Man Episode 7…but that might be too unoriginal.
I’ve been to a cemeterie in Boston once, it was really nice. A short distance from my quarters there’s a small one with REALLY old stones on it, I think some from the 1800s? Reading that, I wanna go see them again.
“‘She’s not sleeping, she’s just dead.’”
Tehe. ^^
I recommend the New Orleans cemetaries, and Florida Keys cemetaries. They’re all above ground stone boxes. Kinda makes that idea of there being a body there much more real. Makes the people more real.
I like cemetaries just because I like to imagine all the mundane things that happened everywhere before I was ever there. Ooh, and Sleepy Hollow cemetary in Concord, MA is awesome. It’s everything it sounds like it should be. Winding paths and hilly terrain filled with creepy, gnarled trees.
Death is really interesting, and monuments to death/life doubly so. It’s this surreal way of making other people more real, and at the same time, less so. Somebody lived, and died, and somebody else cared enough to memorialze that in a humble way. Even a big gaudy mausoleum barely describes the life of a person. It’s kind of amazing, the irony there, the grand gesture, yet the content is so meagre compared to what that person actually lived… But we get to imagine it for ourselves. It’s like a giant story book where you have to fill in the blanks.
I had my ladies write theirs in one of my challenges. . .I wrote my mothers “she loved fiercely and was fiercely loved”. . .which was true. Interesting take on this challenge!~K.K.
thanks for sharing
I love cemeteries, too! I wanted so much to see the bird girl when I was in Savannah (having read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil), but it had been moved for safekeeping. Nice entry!
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