So since I am obsessed with pictures, I thought I would start posting a picture every once in a while that I took and really like or think is interesting.
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Some people that I've showed this picture to were disturbed by my love of it. I know cemeteries can be depressing or scary, but I didn't feel sad or weird when I entered the Kilbrin Cemetery. We visited with our Irish family in Cork and Nana walked in like she owned the place. She had no fear, no unnecessary reverence or pretense. She showed the graves of some of the Field family members. Our cousin, Michelle, said a few prayers by some of the headstones, but overall I was amazed by the beauty. It was a gorgeous day and we were surrounded by the overwhelming greenness of Ireland, but I couldn’t help but feel that the cemetery had its own kind of light. Nana wasn’t sad about visiting the graves of her deceased family members. She was excited to share their memory with Jessica and me and eager to pay her respects.
I’ve never wanted to be buried. I don’t mind other people wanting to be buried, but I feel like I would be taking up space. I know that it’s more for the people I leave behind, but it’s my life and my death and I feel like I should have a say in how it is celebrated or mourned. And if I am cremated and have my ashes spread somewhere, my family could visit that place. And depending on how many family members I have that care about me, they could spread my ashes in multiple places so they could visit me more easily. I’m all over the freaking place now when I’m alive, why not when I’m dead too?
Overall, I just really appreciate the way this cemetery made me feel hopeful about death. That sounds weird, but I guess I’m just so used to death being a depressing subject. I hope to someday be like my grandmother. She wants us all to throw a party and be happy when she dies because even though she will miss us and we will miss her, she will be in heaven and that is where she wants her journey to end. Death can be sad, tragic, unfair, and emptying. But I think it can also be beautiful, natural, relieving, and joyful.
what a beautiful picture. i agree with everything you said haha seriously though, i don't want to be buried either. also, feeling the way you do about death makes living life much easier, in my opinion. it's so much better to focus on the positive aspects at the end of someone's life than to feel sorry for yourself that you're never going to see the person again. obviously it takes a while for some people to get to that point, especially if it was an unexpected death, but you can't move on until you find hope in the tragedy.
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