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 February 2006 It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson Love conquers all ~ Virgil All you need is love ~ The Beatles I'll meet you in the next life, and don't be late ~ Jimi Hendrix The focus of February and Valentine's Day is to remember those you love. They can be someone you see every day, every now and again or someone who has left this place for another life. Cemeteries and gravestones are vehicles of remembrance. They continually serve to remind us of those we have loved and lost. In this way, those dearly departed are never as far away as they may sometimes seem. 
Read many gravestones and you will find they hold not only the sorrow of separation in this life but also the promise of
reunion in another world and everlasting love and remembrance. It is not only the gravestone text which tells us these
stories, but the art and symbolism carved into the rock bears the same message.
With a weeping angel at a gravesite,
the deceased has an eternal mourner and will never be forgotten.
In creating this month's Epitaph, we searched for items that conveyed the message of love and loss. It was easy to find content, not just in our own archives but on the internet, in the libraries and other public places as well. You may be ridiculed for your taphophilia (love of cemeteries) but know you are not alone. Historians, genealogists, art lovers, bird watchers, tree lovers and many more find their way to cemeteries for their own personal reasons. What they find there may bring them peace, rekindle memories, be cathartic or just let them leave the busy outside world for a while.
Remember, cemeteries are not just for the dead, but for the living as well. Memento Mori! Brenda, Maggie & Melissa |
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