115 Saturday in a Cemetery

It is not often that you get to enjoy a trip to the cemetery, but this past Saturday I definitely did! My friend, Candy, and I decided to take a little "photocation". Originally we planned to head to downtown Memphis, but then we started talking about the old cemeteries around, and decided to visit one. We decided on Elmwood, although there were quite a few choices in the area. There are a couple that you can see from the interstate as we drove up that I want to go back to visit sometime. I am sure that there are people who would think it morbid to traipse around a cemetery taking pictures, but the grounds were absolutely beautiful!! The leaves were turning, the sun was shining, and the nip of Fall was in the air! It was very peaceful. Well, except when the trains went roaring past, and that was about every 15 minutes!
It was definitely interesting to read the tombstones. Of course the most interesting markers were the ones that had been worn away. The truly old always draw me the hardest. Heartbreaking the number of baby graves! It really re-enforced to me how lucky I am to live today. A hundred years ago we probably would have lost Katie at 4 months when she was diagnosed with diabetes. And when Connor arrived six weeks early it would have been a true struggle to keep him alive. But then there were the graves of people who had lived long and happy lives. Monuments to the love they shared.

I took over 600 photos, parsed them down to 354. Here are the few I have had time to edit. It truly is a beautiful spot!

On a lighter note, while looking through the pictures Katie walked up behind me and said "I wish Elvis was buried there!" Which of course made me pull up pictures of Graceland. Looks like I know where we are going the next time Grammy comes to visit!!

Years and years ago, back before digital, my buddy Ilka and I did a school report on Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, GA. I don't know how we managed to limit ourselves to the film we had with us!! I would love to go back to Oakland now, and be able to compare the pictures from about 18 years ago. Early this year Oakland was hit by a tornado and many of the monuments were damaged. 150 trees were lost. They are working to restore the cemetery, but it will never be the same.