The Picnic On the Gravesite

        I took a drive up to the cemetery today, primarily to see the beautiful fall foliage on some of the trees. It reminded me of our choosing a gravesite and later a stone for our son. At the funeral home, we were presented with a number of options. We chose a traditional funeral and a casket. I have to admit that I have no idea what we chose for the casket, and I don’t think anyone else remembers, either. I know that we did not choose anything very expensive, because the funeral director advised against our making a sentimental decision as loving parents might do.

       After making those arrangements, we then met a member of the cemetery board at our cemetery. We chose a location toward the back of the cemetery that was a circular section. Other sections around it were already established, but this particular section had been recently cleared of very old and very large walnut trees.

            Choosing the monument took place after the funeral, and provided us the time to select what we thought would be appropriate. We chose a black stone in the shape of a square sitting on one of its corners because that's what we think JD would have liked. It was a traditional shape presented in a unique way, and it was solemn and a little quirky, similar to how our son seemed to like to present himself to others.

            A few weeks after the funeral, my Dad told me a story of a startling coincidence. He said that, when he was in high school, more than 60 years earlier, he had a date with a girl to go for a day’s car ride. At that time, the town we live in was about two hours away from my father’s hometown, so coming to this particular town on a car ride was a coincidence in itself. I don’t know why they chose to come here, because he had no relatives and probably no friends that lived here. It would not have been to look at the college, because he already had a full scholarship to the state’s large university.

          “We left early in the morning,” he said, “and had a picnic lunch in the wooded area at the back of the cemetery. I think that we spread our picnic cloth exactly on the spot where JD is buried.”

          I probably would have felt a chill over such an astounding coincidence (not to mention taking a date to the cemetery), but the fact that he had been on a date with someone unknown to me (at least I think I never met her) was a conflict I have never wanted to consider for too long. If my father were still alive today, I might want to ask him more about it, but it is one of those things for which I need have only a brief knowledge.