Gift of Quiet

I was reading a blog this morning, a knitters blog. I knit among other hobbies that I am desperately trying to whittle down to manageable numbers. There are just not enough hours in the day... I do not have time for a full time job! And so on. But this blog post was about the quiet. It comes after yesterday, being Sunday, and my day filled with Walmart, Gamestop, the grocery store and the laundromat and a couple of computers running, a Wii game and and and and.... no quiet. And even a loud cat!

This is why I like cemeteries so much I think. In them I respect the resting place of the departed. This is their place, not mine and so I am quiet. What do I get as a reward for respectful behavior? Well, I get quiet. The perfect gift. Within this gift is a so much. Within the quiet is time to think and time to hear yourself think. Decisions come much easier without ten other things that you are trying to multi-task with. The hectic life is outside the walls or fence of the cemetery and all I have with me is being one with time and place. I slow down and I don't feel I have to rush.

When I was in Glenwood Cemetery a week and a half ago I did that sudden, "What am I missing out there!?" but then I had to remind myself that it did not matter, this was time for me, a time for quiet and so I let it go and found myself so refreshed by putting all the noise and keeping watch of time out and away from me and outside of that cemetery. The only thing that needed to tell me anything was my body when it got too cold, at least that was sensible. A cemetery puts me in a different time as well. What were the days like for the people I visit. Granted their lives were hectic but in such a different way. Did they find time to sit on the front porch and enjoy the breeze? I can not even remember the last time I did that..

Of late I am on this mission to simplify my life.. I need this badly and I don't know why. Perhaps it is the current state of the economy and my economy. I have so much "stuff".. so many hobbies and everything that goes with it. I personally need to downsize. I want to be fantastic at a couple of things, not so so at too many things. All of this was decided in the quiet of a cemetery on a winter day and I am much happier for it and do not feel so stressed. I am boldly culling through my collection of things. If my ancestors could do without, why can't I? And really, getting rid of one half of what I own? I won't be doing without.

And so.. more head stones from where I go for my personal mental health days. *smile*

From the Washington Street Cemetery, Geneva, New York: