You know – I figure there must be a reason that I do what I do. Manage a cemetery I mean. I think that there is something I must learn from it. Not just one thing but a whole series of things that lead to a new understanding, revelation, way of being…

I don’t want to get carried away here. I feel this way about most things in life. Just – this cemetery thing – I know it is right there – in the mist – just outside my peripheral vision… I feel it sometimes. A ripple in my spine, the way certain words or phrases pop out of the din, a sudden move to tears.

I’ve had many learning experiences in my first five years in the cemetery. Carving graves into the Earth with my hands, caring for these burial grounds, listening, working, observing…

I buried my Grandmother, my father’s mother. I dug her grave alone. I was the only one left working at the cemetery when she died. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. My last time alone with my Gram. I dug her grave right beside my Grandfather’s, exposing him to the air for a night. I worked to covered her over with my brother, and my cousins Dana, Eric and David. Carl went on to the reception. He is smart – that Carl. There was food there.

What I know today is that it is the people that matter. All of us. That life is precious and should be approached with reverence, tenderness and a smile. That any interaction among Human Beings should not be taken for granted. That each time is an opportunity. That everyone has something to offer. There are times for frolic and times for stillness. That this life is built on relationships.

I have buried people I will miss though I hardly Knew them. I have only known them from a few, brief encounters. Sometimes I can only just grasp an idea of them through interactions with their families. It saddens me, sometimes, to know that these people are now missing from the fabric of Humanity. Of course, they are not really missing. If I am thinking of them then you can bet that someone else is thinking of them too and they will not soon be forgotten.

I like how, in a moment of interaction, I can learn something about a person. I like the way people reveal themselves in different ways. I like to think that there is a true human to human honesty when conversing with a grave digger.

We’re all in this together. No one is more Human than another. I’m pullin for ya.