I Wouldn't Put It Off

When I was a little boy, I remember vividly my paternal grandmother and my aunt making numerous trips to a cemetery near Columbus, Georgia. From their conversations, I realized , even as a child, that it was of utmost importance to them to keep this cemetery in pristine condition. The graves there were of family members and my grandmother obviously cared a great deal about those deceased persons. I think my aunt (Lydia) just went to help her mother in this task.

My two brothers, my sister and I have often spoken about this place and that we should plan to make a trip there to find this piece of hallowed ground. Finally, on a whim, the baby of our sibling group (Little Brucie) decided to find this place and he has also written about this experience on his blog at:

www.viewfromahearse.blogspot.com

Bruce began searching the internet (knowing that Juniper, Georgia was a town of interest) and before long not only did he find the location of this cemetery, but also a list of those buried there. When I say that he found the location ... well, I mean almost ... within Hollerin' Distance anyway!

Mac and Bruce arrived before me and did a little detective work with the aid of a few fine citizens of this area and after driving down a dirt road and treking through the woods and briars ... they found a cemetery. Bruce walked up and kicked off the leaves and debris from the first grave and lo and behold ... he had located the final resting place of our great-grandfather ... A. C. McCoy Jr.. Right next to him was the grave of his wife, who had died in her 30's. Our great-grandfather lived over 50 years after her death and never remarried. We wouldn't have known this fact had we not visited this cemetery. I have read letters that my grandmother Lucy wrote to other family members after her father's (A.C.McCoy) death. Her mood was melancholy and she spoke of him as a very "sweet" person. ("sweet" is a southern term if you didn't know). Now I think I know why it was so important to her to maintain this graveyard. In addition, Lucy's grandparents were buried there also.




It has now become important to Lucy's grandchildren (Mac, Kikky, George and Bruce) to maintain this family cemetery also. We'll have to find the present owner of the large piece of land and get his permission to come and go, but from what the locals tell us, we don't think that will be a problem. We gave it our best attempt to clean-up the place but quickly realized that we needed professional help. We are making plans for that also.

The grave markers for our great grandparents there were of first-class quality. My older brother, Mac, stated that he bet Lucy forced my grandfather, George, to spend the money and we noted that they are the exact same type of markers that are in another family cemetery in Macon. Understand, that our family has been in the funeral business for over 150 years.

Why is this event even worthy of a blog you might ask? Well, I'll tell you.

Whatever you plan to do with your life ... do it! Not a few weeks from now, but do it today! And if you think you are so important that the world will be devastated when you die ... get over it! And within a few years of passing, no one will even realize that you ever lived. Now if you are a very loving, giving and loyal person(like not remarrying after your young wife dies) then maybe that tacks on a few years of post-mordem "caring", but at the most, in one generation, the leaves start falling and no one comes to sweep them away. Then the bushes and trees overtake the landscape and some of the local kids find this special spot in the woods to secretly indulge themselves in the illicit pleasures of life.

King Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes, "for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going"! He was right!

That family that lies buried in the ground on the remnants of this plantation gave us our grandmother and our Daddy. He was a fantastic and loving Daddy who had a thundering, velvet hand, but he didn't learn to be a "Daddy" by reading a book ... this talent was passed through the generations.

This cemetery is not lost anymore.