Why I like walking in the cemetery

The last few weeks Joshua and I have been walking in the cemetery a few blocks from our home while Elora goes to her one-day preschool class.
I say "walking" but really, Josh gets too distracted by sticks and pinwheels so we usually don't wander too far. When I was younger, my mom would take us to the cemetery a few times a year-including Memorial Day- as many of my grandparents from both sides were buried there. We would always walk around and look at the headstones of people we didn't know as well, and enjoyed soaking in the history of the place.
I found it odd that Joseph had never really walked around cemeteries much in his life, and the first few years of our marriage we never visited any, even though I really missed the practice on Memorial Day. I suppose he probably wasn't comfortable there because of the death of his mother when he was younger.
But living here, the cemetery is so close to our home and so pretty, I've been happy to take up the practice again with my kids! (And I do have relatives buried here too: my mom's great grandparents.)



I especially love the tree-lined roads that criss-cross the place, each row lined by a different type of tree. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of the pine trees. By the way, I would love to live on a street that looks like this someday:





I also love the variety of beautiful vistas throughout the lawns. This is one of my favorites:

What kind of tree is that anyway? I want one in my yard.

Some cemeteries have restrictions as to how big memorials can be. I remember one place in Everett, WA just looked like a big empty lawn unless you got close, because all the headstones were flat on the ground. Obviously, this place has no such restrictions. There are some really cool monuments here! Like this beautiful life-size weeping woman:




Or this tall guardian:



Now let me give you some perspective on how huge this statue really is (and how rich this family must have been!) Here it is by some other headstones:


You see that big ball over there? It is for the same family name, and it reaches my chest in height! Here, check out it's size (yes, sometimes I bring Elora too):



There are also many historical things around, like old fences around family plots:




And finely carved headstones from the 1800's:





I often spend time reading the headstones . Scenes like this always give me perspective, and I come home with more determination to be grateful for my children. These all belong to one family, and were all children that were either still-born or died within four years of birth. Scenarios like this are all too common in graveyards that reach back into the 1800's or beyond:


There is even one monument in this cemetery where they carved a lifesize bed with a little boy sleeping in it. I want to cry every time I see it. (It is in a completely different area than I was in this day, or I might have taken a picture.)

I like the fairly recent trend of bench-headstones, designed so visiting mourners can sit and think about their loved one instead of standing:



And there are no end to interesting epithets and life stories, some of which can be very moving. One old headstone listed a man's every great act throughout his life (and there were many) another noted that the mother and daughter had both died on one of the flights on 9-11. Some are just thoughtful poems:



Something that's very popular in Utah (I don't know about other places) is to list one's progeny on the back of the headstone. I enjoy seeing how many kids people have, and how interesting their names might be. Most stones show the children:



Though some also have grandchildren:



And I saw one the other day that actually listed some of their genealogy back a few generations! Very interesting:




I also keep an eye out for styles or designs I might someday use on my own headstone...is that morbid? I loved the carving on this one. Check out the old tire, the dog, and the initials carved in the tree. How cool is that?




Finally, our cemetery has a great view of the valley: