Wednesday, June 25, 2008

WWJD? And you?

Ray flew back from a business trip to LA this afternoon. I planned to pick him up after picking up August from daycare. We were about 15 minutes early to the airport, so I drove to the cell phone wait lot. It was full, and a queue was forming for spots.

August was red from the sun beating through the window, so I really wanted to pull over in the shade and open up the door (my AC is a bit underpowered I guess). I drove down one road and some guy in a booth told me to do a U-ey. I drove around the airport circle, hoping Ray's flight landed early. No luck.

Just as Ray called to say he was 10 minutes from curb-side, I pulled off the loop. I noticed a nice big grassy field across the street so I drove toward its entrance. Whaddaya know...a cemetery. I drove slowly down one of the "lanes" and parked underneath a beautiful old tree. No reason why August and I couldn't pay a call to some dearly departed, right? Or wrong?

We stopped and read a few tombstones: Vern and Gladys. Richard, Anna, Eugenia. Virginia. Virginia was the most recently departed. I thought about Virginia, who she might have been, what she made of her life, and who might still come to visit her, if anyone. While standing there, I let August down on the grass, where she sat and then practiced her stand. It was perfect under that tree...shady, grassy, and just breezy enough. I hope Virginia knew it was a nice spot for eternal rest, even if it was by the airport.

So, was I wrong to kill some time here, creating my own alternate "cell phone wait lot" in the cemetery? Would the families of the deceased take offense to my appropriation of their loved ones' final resting place? Or would Virginia appreciate that someone took note and thought about her after she's gone...even though I'm a stranger and hadn't intended on the visit. If I were Virginia, I wouldn't mind. If someone were to visit my grandparents' grave to kill some time, well...why not.

3 comments:

Jana Kleitsch said...

Andy's grandparents are "resting" there. Too bad you and August didn't say a little hello to Fran and Joe. :) I know they would have appreciated it.

Margaret said...

Heck - Rob's mom spends a ton of time in cemeteries studying genealogy and there's a whole bunch of folks who do rubbings of headstones for their collections. I never even thought of stopping there while waiting to pick someone up but might have to try it next time. :-)

lloyd said...

Why was I so touched by this post? I dunno. I think it's awfully sweet. At the end, Virginia probably would have said, "Leaving so soon???"