Today, I took a guided tour of Oakland Cemetery. As I looked at the beautiful Victorian mausoleums, obelisks, columns, large urns and elaborate headstones, I thought about all the living had done to honor the dead. As you’ll see in the picture below of Clyde King’s, and his wife’s, headstone, he designed it to look like the front of their house because she wanted to be buried at home, but a city ordinance wouldn’t allow it.
It made me think about my grandmother. My grandmother was (is?) a great woman. She deserves to be honored with an incredible headstone and burial place. Does she feel honored by her headstone? Does she feel honored by being buried in a military cemetery? I hope so.
I also thought about my own death. If I die before my future husband, I hope he builds a mausoleum or a large obelisk to mark my grave because he wants to honor the magnificence of my life and show the world how much he loves me. If he dies before me, I’ll build a monument to him. I swear I will.
If you live in or are ever visiting Atlanta, and you haven’t yet, check out Oakland Cemetery. It’s absolutely beautiful and filled with many graves from the 1800s. If I haven’t convinced you yet, maybe the pictures below will.
The Bereaved 