Morbid Curiosity

Outside S. Marie, I visited the graveyard which resembled an outdoor shopping mall.

There are many more widows than widowers, most of which lived 30 years longer than their husbands, and surprisingly both husband and wife were usually born around the same time. Tons of flowers (real and fake), potted plants, candles and 3"x5" photographs mounted on the headstones.

My favorite was a husband-wife grave: he had died at 39 and she at 69. There was a 5x7 photo of the two of them, they were young and in love, admiring something not in the photo. He is standing behind her, smiling over her shoulder and she is leaning her back into his chest with her perfect little white gloves folded in place at her waste. This photo is set in between the two headstones. Then each grave is marked with a 3x5 self-portrait: his when he was young and handsome, probably taken sometime just before he died, but her photo is also young and beautiful, clearly not taken at the age of 69! But to top it, his photo looks straight out at the camera, but in her self-portrait her eyes are glancing to the right as if she is looking at something (or someone) outside the photo, and they have placed the photo in such a way that it looks as if she is glancing, fondly at his photo!

I had to pause and laugh. What were their kids thinking? I think I know, or I imagine that I know: "Mom is finally with the one she loved, and there are no pictures after dad died where she was happy. This one is perfect!"

Okay, maybe I don't know what they were thinking, but it could be true.

Can you imagine, 30 more years of just persevering?