Sometimes it is the littlest of things that scream the loudest message of all...When I asked a groundskeeper about the occasional rock, pebble, or marble that I saw placed on top of some of the grave markers; I was told that these "messages" were left by family and friends to let others that knew and loved the deceased, that someone had been there to visit.
That more than anything else brought it home... despite being beautifully arranged like some giant's domino set, each and everyone one of these markers is attached to wives, children, husbands, families, generations. These connections are what give this hallowed ground it's spirit and life.
This particular marble sat atop the marker of a WWI veteran that had died a long time ago. I found myself wondering who had left this message, how long since this veteran had a visitor, what was the visitor's connection to the veteran. What must have been going through the mind of the visitor? Was it a son or daughter saying goodbye to their father for the final time before meeting him again in the great beyond? Could it have been a great grandchild wondering who this person was that they share a name with?
Eternal Rest Grant Unto Them O Lord, and let Your Perpetual Light Shine Upon Them...
Ed
Ed, this is beautiful, brought tears to my eyes. Both my grandfathers were veterans of WWII, but while my paternal grandfather got what he thought was a safe job as a shipbuilder in CA (asbestos would later cause him to take an early retirement - irony), my mother's father was paratrooper in the 82nd airborne! He almost never spoke of the war, "Men who tell war stories have never seen real action." he'd say. But when Band of Brothers came out he remarked time and again on the veracity of the film. He never failed to buy a poppy on veteran's day. And as someone who has seen the breathtaking sadness of an American Military graveyard in France, I will never forget the sacrifce of that great generation. "In Flander's feild the poppies grow. . ."
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