Graveyard's -- A two year old's perspective
Just a little bit of advice. Never bring a two and a half year old boy to a graveyard. My aunt's anniversary is coming up later this week so I offered to go to the cemetery with my mother today.
When we arrived at the graveyard this afternoon my husband volunteered to stay in the car with our young son. In a fit of optimism...stupidity..call it what you like I said that he wouldn't be a problem and we started to walk in to the cemetery.
Now this is an old cemetery. My aunt was one of the last people to be buried there five years ago. She only got in (God I make it sound attractive!) because her family had an old plot. Graves date back to the 1800's. Many are sunken or in disrepair. Whole families are buried in a number of the plots. It is a big place and as Murphy's law would have it my aunt's plot is way in the back of the cemetery.
It started off well with my little boy holding my hand and chatting away. Then he realised that the cemetery resembled an obstacle course and started leaping Tigger like over every gravestone. He jumped off ledges. He tried to steal little figurines of the Virgin Mary. I swear I saw a small statue of Jesus make a run for cover.
I ran after him and managed to throw him to the ground before he fell in to an old grave belonging to an Italian family called the Silvestre's. ( There was even a picture of the mother -- I all but apologised to her).
It was sheer and utter madness. Got to my aunt's grave and being the morbid soul that I am instructed my son to "Say Hello to Josie." I forgot about Josie Jump one of his favourite characters in a TV programme called Balamory. Now as her name suggests Josie likes to bop about and that started my little boy off again.
So he stood on her grave singing "Josie Jump is my name. Laughing and sport are my games. I am always feeling rhythm..I feel it in my toes...it tingles through my body..go on and have a go." Lovely! I think my aunt would have appreciated the moment. She always loved a bit of anarchy. But that is another day's story.
Anyway, we put a few flowers on the grave and made a hasty retreat. Then I had the audacity to complain about my son when we got to the car. Like it was his fault. He cried on the way out saying he didn't want to leave. If grave jumping ever becomes an Olympic sport he will be our man!! It was like going to Disneyworld for him. He loved the place.
My favourite moment was when he saw a particularly majestic looking headstone with white little stones around it and said "Wow, what a great grave!" I was stressed out of my mind at the time but it is priceless now when I look back on it.
When we arrived at the graveyard this afternoon my husband volunteered to stay in the car with our young son. In a fit of optimism...stupidity..call it what you like I said that he wouldn't be a problem and we started to walk in to the cemetery.
Now this is an old cemetery. My aunt was one of the last people to be buried there five years ago. She only got in (God I make it sound attractive!) because her family had an old plot. Graves date back to the 1800's. Many are sunken or in disrepair. Whole families are buried in a number of the plots. It is a big place and as Murphy's law would have it my aunt's plot is way in the back of the cemetery.
It started off well with my little boy holding my hand and chatting away. Then he realised that the cemetery resembled an obstacle course and started leaping Tigger like over every gravestone. He jumped off ledges. He tried to steal little figurines of the Virgin Mary. I swear I saw a small statue of Jesus make a run for cover.
I ran after him and managed to throw him to the ground before he fell in to an old grave belonging to an Italian family called the Silvestre's. ( There was even a picture of the mother -- I all but apologised to her).
It was sheer and utter madness. Got to my aunt's grave and being the morbid soul that I am instructed my son to "Say Hello to Josie." I forgot about Josie Jump one of his favourite characters in a TV programme called Balamory. Now as her name suggests Josie likes to bop about and that started my little boy off again.
So he stood on her grave singing "Josie Jump is my name. Laughing and sport are my games. I am always feeling rhythm..I feel it in my toes...it tingles through my body..go on and have a go." Lovely! I think my aunt would have appreciated the moment. She always loved a bit of anarchy. But that is another day's story.
Anyway, we put a few flowers on the grave and made a hasty retreat. Then I had the audacity to complain about my son when we got to the car. Like it was his fault. He cried on the way out saying he didn't want to leave. If grave jumping ever becomes an Olympic sport he will be our man!! It was like going to Disneyworld for him. He loved the place.
My favourite moment was when he saw a particularly majestic looking headstone with white little stones around it and said "Wow, what a great grave!" I was stressed out of my mind at the time but it is priceless now when I look back on it.
posted by cara at 1:03 PM
4 Comments:
I love this story. My first graveyard experience as a kid wasn't exactly a good one. If only I'd had the opportunity to play leapfrog over the stones! Children can really lighten up our tense moments, can't they?
I wish I could've seen it.
i always imagine the spirits love it when children are there acting like banshee's.
We should all have such perspective.
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