Cemeteries

 Cemeteries are often wonderful and interesting places to visit.  Most have landscaping and trees and/or shrubs, even in areas where surrounding plants are largely absent, and they can provide valuable wildlife habitat.  Cemeteries are full of history, and families can be traced back many generations.  The individual stories that are often told on tombstones speak to the temporal nature of life, of the sadness of losing a loved one, especially when death happens in childhood, and can cause us to reflect on our own mortality.  Cemeteries are a silent gathering where kids may play, neighbors go for walks, communities gather on Veterans' Day and Memorial Day to devote their thoughts and give their thanks and continuing love to those whose lives have ended.  I find cemeteries to be a landscape full of history, emotion, and memories.