An afternoon at the Mitchell Cemetery

As a kid I grew up on the aptly named "Cemetery Road", a mile or two from the town cemetery. It is a beautiful place with lots of green grass and big old trees. It is very peaceful now and as I remember it as a child. I have quite a few family members buried in this cemetery as I come from a large Catholic family tradition and my family has lived in the area since the early 1900s at least. During my visit home I headed out to the cemetery to visit my dad and sisters grave, and to explore a little, just like I did as a kid. The big stone gates to the cemetery looked the same. My best friend and I would climb up on top of them and eat our picnic lunches.

I could almost imagine this little girl on her bike was me way back then...minus the helmet of course...that was back in the day when we were routinely allowed to do scary and dangerous things and no one thought twice about it! :)

With my love of my garden, this little stone near a grave touched me.

This next one has a neat inscription. It seems to read "Dear Companion thou has left me for the mansions of the dead. Yet in heaven I hope to meet thee where no farewell tear is shed" Some of the older graves listed ages right down to how many months and days old the person was.

This next one marks the grave of 3 children. It reads: "Dear lovely babes, to part with you has rached our hearts with pain. And though our loss is great we trust is your eternal gain"

This next one is so cool. It was so moss covered though that the many inscriptions could not be read at all. There were blocks on top that spelled out the babies name and a little stone log next to it. I really wished I could have made out the words on this one.

This one says: "Call not back the dear departed, anchored safe where the storms are oer. On the border land we left them, soon to meet and part no more."

This one was sad. He died on February 2nd, she died 12 days later on valentines day.

I remembered these three little lamb stones, from when I was a kid. They must have made a big impression on me for me to still recall them. I looked a bit for them and finally found them. They would have been only probably 20 or so years old back then, but they seemed really old to me at the time.




I enjoyed my time in the cemetery. Just as when I was a kid, I found it a lovely peaceful place to spend some time. As nice and peaceful as it was I haven't changed my eternal plans. I want my ashes sprinkled among the cactus in the front yard..so I can haunt future ancestors who hopefully will be caring for all my well loved plants!