I never really went to cemeteries when I was younger. At the time, none of my family was buried where I grew up in South Carolina. Both family lines were back in rural northern New York. Then my paternal grandfather died. Then my paternal step-great (in every sense of the word) grandmother. Then one of my best friends died during our freshman year of college. His death was a complete shock to me. Young people didn't die. Grandpa and Grandma T. I could understand. A 19 year old didn't make sense. Then other friends died during our college years.
I went out occasionally to cemeteries to "see" and "talk" to them. Especially Wesley. He was always my sounding board. Then my mother died of a brain aneursym. COMPLETE SHOCK. She died the day before her 47th birthday. My father wanted to make sure he picked a location we girls would remember when we would visit (right by the sidewalk). It had bothered him on a trip the previous year he could not easily find his parents graves. He said he wanted to make sure we didn't have that same issue. So when I went to visit the cemetery, I would talk and cry and cry some more. Both parents are now gone and I still can't go to their cemetery without crying.
I signed up for
Find-A-Grave and then forgot about it. It was about a year later and since I didn't feel like cleaning I decided I would go take a volunteer picture. That first visit to Monocacy Cemetery in Beallsville, Montgomery County, Maryland was all it took. I was now a tadophile!!
This blog will deal with the cemeteries I am encountering in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia and wherever else I land in my personal journey!! This blog will showcase the photos and a bit of "their" stories. I am curious when I take the photos about the people now gone. Sometimes I can find out more with some research, other times I can find nothing. Growing up my family loved the commentator Paul Harvey whose famous line was "And now you know the rest of the story". I may not know the rest of the story but I will post what I do find. After all, we all must pay it forward when possible.
Happy Cemetery Journeys!!!