It gave us a chance to talk about a few things, since death had come up a few times last week and since we don't visit cemeteries often (and rarely pay too much attention when we drive by, unless it's a really old one):
- respect for the dead (as we debated whether playing a game in a cemetery was respectful. We decided because we were just driving through peacefully that it was ok.);
- the history of cemeteries (at least the modern Western history, namely as parks, a la Bethnal Green in London and Green-wood in NYC, both of which I've visited);
- the function of cemeteries and especially gravemarkers (history, memorial, status, kinship, style);
- burial customs (different cultural traditions, like the need to bury those who are Jewish quickly, those who are Muslim without coffins, and Mama's Chinese ancestors as far up a mountain as possible) and cemetery visitations (on religious holidays, Dios de los Muertos, significant personal anniversaries, or not much at all--Gommie buys Easter lilies and poinsettias in memory of her mother, but not for her mother's grave. I like that.)
- the styles and traditions of headstones (how many Eastern Europeans have begun to put likeness on gravemarkers; how since Schindler's List the placement of rocks on headstones has grown in popularity regardless of faith);
- and even the business of cemeteries (the job of monument makers; the rules on headstones and floral offerings at some strict faith-based cemeteries; the cost of a plot; the maintenance of the space--even the amount of chemicals used to maintain that weedless forever-green look.)
And all Bud could do was look out for Weeping Angels!!
