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Tuesday, August 27, 2024

A moment in a stormy cemetery

Reflective memories
Laval, QC
August 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

As thunder rumbles in the distance, my wife and I walk through the soft grass of the cemetery to visit the graves of her parents and my dad.

It’s quiet here save for the birds circling slowly high overhead, their cries joined by the sound of the winds whispering through the trees that try - and fail - to shade this place.

I have a complicated relationship with these enigmatic plots of land. I don’t visit my loved ones as much as I come here to reflect, because I’ve always felt the memory of them is separate and distinct from what was once their physical being. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems to help me deal with the temporary nature of this life thing.

We leave stones as markers that we were here, that the lives this place now honours are tangibly remembered, and they left their mark on the rest of us. The sky reflects off the polished marble, an ever changing scene invisible to those now buried here.

Soon enough the thunder gets louder and it’s time for us to leave. We’ll return, of course, but the things that mattered most about these giants who gave us life will stick in our hearts and souls every moment between now and then. We don’t need to actually be here to cherish them, but it probably doesn’t hurt to drop in for a reflective reminder now and then.

Memories are complicated. So are lives, particularly when and after they end.

#laval #duvernay #montreal #quebec #canada #cemetery #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photography #family #everything


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1 comment:

  1. Snaggle Tooth10:56 PM, August 28, 2024

    So pretty and polished those surfaces.
    Where I reflect on my parents and brother are weathered and the plantings are large now, no adornments allowed. the artist in me hates that.
    In Northern Maine my ancestors have a mountain view and worn out stones, difficult to locate amid all the new ones. Aunt, uncle, fave cousin, Gramps all in the new section.
    I've slacked off the blogging, but at least I can read again. it will come back, my writing. Yay, new Chromebook.
    You are always worth reading. Cemeteries can be difficult.
    To me the memories of them living and the sound of their voice is a more welcome visit.
    I think I will not be planted...

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