a new tradition

  Old names and faces. Strange how that happens isn't it? One day they are all familiar and the next, not so much. I was reminded of that yesterday on several occasions. I went to retrieve the Flag off the graves of those veterans, I hate it when people just leave them there to get dirty, ragged, blown over, and eventually picked up by cemetery workers that throw them in a trash bag! As I picked those flags up I read the name and dates on those stones. Three of the four I knew personally. Two have been gone for over twenty years already and the third seven. I remember them well. I know the name and the face. The fourth flag I place on the grave of one Col. Comegy, civil war veteran and a former prominent citizen of Greensboro, Md. His name is one that appears in the history of Greensboro frequently. 

 As I walked slowly from one grave to the other I noticed how many more stones there are these days. I've lived here for about 25 or 26 years and have noticed the population of that real estate increase. There is the old section with those strange looking stones made of some white colored material, marble perhaps, that is now covered with dirt, moss, and grime. Some of those are barely legible. Odd shapes and unusual carvings are on those stones, but new and modern when they were placed. Many say, never forgotten, but the stones belie that promise. The newer stones are mostly granite. It is harder to tell the age of those stones without reading the dates. They are much more durable and I expect that is the reason the switch to granite was made. That, combined with the fact of modern cutting tools to engrave that stone, the white marble, if that is what it is, being much softer. Many of those appear to be unvisited in some time as well. 

 A new trend in grave markers includes an image of the persons face. Personally I find that a bit unsettling for reasons I don't really know. Perhaps it is merely because it is new and different. I'm not much for changing the traditional. In the past we didn't associate a name with a face in the cemetery. That was left to those that knew the individual. But now, an image will be there for, I assume, forever. I don't know but I would rather not have my picture on my headstone. The question there for me is, what picture. Do I get to pick that picture? If so, which one should I pick? I mean it is a picture that will one day wind up being one of a very few. How many pictures of you do you realistically believe will be around in a hundred years or so? How many would even go looking for it? If someone else is choosing that picture what would they pick? Well, guess it really doesn't matter, after all, I am dead. 

 I don't know I guess a lot of that came to me while walking through that cemetery. It was a light rain, grey skies, and I was alone. Because of the virus there was even an absence of flags for the veterans. It all just seemed so forlorn. The cemetery is never a place filled with happiness but sometimes, as strange as it may seem, filled with hope. It is, after all, were we will all eventually reside, metaphorically speaking anyway. I intend to be cremated but do want a marker, with my name and dates upon it. I just feel like every man should have a marker, a milestone on the journey. This earth is just one stop on that journey is my feeling. 

 I did read a lot of old names, some familiar. They are the familiar names, the ones that you hear everyday. I expect these folks are family members of the living. There are family names, names associated with towns, and other names that are of national prominence. I can only speculate. Being interested in history I have read some of that about Greensboro and the surrounding area. The old names are there, etched in marble and granite. Many of those names you do not hear today, the descendants of those folks either moved away or simply lost to time. The old names, the old money, and the founders of the town. Names that shaped the history, now silent. Old names, and soon there will be old faces on some stones. A new tradition?