A Trip To Grandview

Earlier this week I made a trip to Grandview Cemetery. I go there about once a week. It is an old habit, it is one of the places we loved to stop at once in awhile as it is so beautiful and so peaceful there. I was sitting on a bench, just taking in the beauty of an unusally warm November afternoon. It is a great place to meditate and get my thoughts sorted out. I like to see that all is well there. We used to joke that it is the only piece of property we would ever own. Of course, I was on my way to do something that day so after a short time I decided to leave. As I walked slowly toward the pickup I saw a movement to my right. It stopped, and I stopped and waited to see what it was. A beautiful young deer had stopped about the same time I did, and then continued along the row of tombstones. He stopped again and looked at me. For a brief moment our eyes connected and then he went running and bounding south toward the golf course that borders the cemetery. As I slowly watched him pass I couldn't help but have a strange feeling about the encounter. I do not necessarily believe in reincarnation, but I also know that we humans know so little about so many things that I do not rule it out entirely. I do know if John were able, he would be a free creature that can come and go as he pleases and can stop and breathe the fresh air and run freely. I know I am in a strange mood right now, but I choose to think it was a beautiful encounter with a beautiful animal in a beautiful place. I will never forget the eye to eye contact we had. It was probably 50 feet from me so I had a chance to get a good look at it. It is an image I will not soon forget. It was a beautiful experience. I certainly do not profess to be wise enough about such things to dismiss it lightly.

Perhaps the poem I like so well explains it.

Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep,
I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glint on the snow,
I am the sunlight in the ripened grain, I am the gentle autumn rain,
I am the swift rush of birds in flight, I am the soft starlight in the night,
Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there I do not sleep.