An Untended Grave

I've always liked to walk through old cemeteries, study the gravestones, and learn a bit about the people buried there.

Every now and then I have tended to a gravestone in the old cemetery in my neighborhood. It is all by itself near the edge, lying flat on the ground, and often gets covered over with debris from the cedar tree branches above it and a vine on the ground. I cut everything back, sweep off the stone, and even blow on it to get it as clean as possible.

I always could read the name on the stone, but not the dates. Today a woman connected with the cemetery was there doing some research and I asked her about this grave. I had always thought that since the stone was lying flat that it had been knocked over, but she told me that it was a stone that was put in that way.

She was also able to check and see that it was a five-year-old boy who was buried there. While that is so sad, it made me doubly glad that I have been tending this little isolated gravestone.