It took me almost 25 years to go visit my grandfather\u2019s grave.\u00a0 Being neither religiously inclined nor a cemetery visitor, I say goodbye to people I love and remember them in my heart. \u00a0 But I felt I needed to make this trip for one reason:\u00a0 to make sure the gravesite was receiving perpetual care.<\/p>\n
I drove there on his birthday; I hadn\u2019t been there since they placed him into the newly dug hole, so I didn\u2019t remember exactly where it was.\u00a0 I walked slowly around the area, growing hot and sweaty as I avoided stepping on gravestones set flush in the uneven ground.\u00a0 Just as I was ready to give up and leave, I happened to glance behind me and there it was\u2014his headstone.\u00a0 It was perfect, with lovely scrolls near the corner and his name, birth and death date exactly as they should be.\u00a0 Perpetual care was evident in the neatly trimmed ivy covering his grave.\u00a0 Placing a stone on his marker, I bowed my head for a silent moment, not knowing any formal prayers to say.\u00a0 Then I stood quietly, feeling good about finally doing my duty.<\/p>\n
I had loved him dearly but have now only a few gems of childhood memory.\u00a0 To this day I wish we could have shared more time, especially as I became an adult.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t seen him the weekend before he died as my sister did, and I wish I had.\u00a0 I silently sent him love; he was a wonderful person.<\/p>\n
Just as I began to leave, the tall clump of grass to my right moved.\u00a0 A beautiful fawn stood up, looked over its shoulder at me, shook its little tail and moved on its incredibly long, thin legs away and out of my sight.\u00a0 I took a last look at my grandfather\u2019s resting place, and I left.<\/p>\n
As luck would have it, I lunched with a friend, and I related the story of the fawn.\u00a0 She has a strong faith; it was an angel, she explained, who waited there until I was ready to say goodbye again.\u00a0 When I did, she said, the fawn was moving on to await the next person who needed to do a duty of visitation respect.\u00a0 The tears came for me, and I felt that perhaps her words might be true.\u00a0 The day was cathartic if disturbing\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It took me almost 25 years to go visit my grandfather\u2019s grave.\u00a0 Being neither religiously inclined nor a cemetery visitor, I say goodbye to people I love and remember them in my heart. \u00a0 But I felt I needed to make this trip for one reason:\u00a0 to make sure the gravesite was receiving perpetual care. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n