Sunday, December 28, 2008
Finding old friends in Macon
| My last trip to Macon was back around the end of July. That was when they closed down my Krystal on Vineville, Ave. It was a spur of the moment trip, not well planned, and I left town with a lot of stuff unresolved. My friend Penny died back in early May. (If you search my blog for Penny, you can read the posts about her.) Due to work issues and final exams, I was unable to make the funeral. While I was back in town in July to went to try and track down her grave. I knew the cemetery since her father had been buried there a 5-10 years earlier. I spoke to the man at the office and he told me that, since it was a Saturday morning, it was probably going to be a difficult task. He said if I would come on a weekday there'd be someone there would could easily get the information. At that point, one of the grave diggers stopped by the office. (Do they still even use that job title? maybe "interment facilitators?) I was amazed that when I mentioned the name, he knew roughly when she'd been buried. He remembered it was a rainy day. He knew the day of the week. He knew vaguely how old she was. He knew there's been a hospital stay and some sort of illness. When the office found a possible location, the grave specialist led me out there in his front end loader. Almost immediately upon arrival he said it wasn't right. He was very sure she wasn't buried in the ground but instead in the mausoleum. About chest height he said. We went down to the mausoleum and looked around but were unable to find it. I went home after that trip with a lot of unresolved feelings. Both at the loss of my Krystal and my inability to find my friend. This trip to Macon I vowed would not be the same. Within 5 minutes of stopping by the office, I had a yellow post it note in hand with Penny's location: Penny CatoI drove to the back where the mausoleum was. You actually have to walk thru the chapel and out the back then down stairs to the new section. Sure enough, just as the grave digger had said, there was Penny. About chest height.     The poem is The Broken Chain, author unknown.  |
