Photo #150/365: The Altoona Cemetery

This is the road in and out of the Altoona Cemetery. Because today is Memorial Day the flags are flying. Since both my dad and my brother, Dan, are veterans, I appreciate the time that people take to put all the flags in place. Today is a very windy day, so you can really see the flags waving.

Photo #151: Brothers

My entry today may seem a bit morbid, but since this blog is as much a journal as it is a collection of photos, I decided to include our trip to the Altoona Cemetery. Like so many others, my sister and I went out to the cemetery today to decorate graves. We have way too many family members out there these days. I guess that's just a product of getting older. I can handle the loss of my dad and grandparents. You expect to experience those kind of losses in your lifetime, but the loss of both of my younger brothers is still hard to take. It has been just three years since we lost them both within five months of each other.

I am glad that they were buried in this country cemetery. People decorate graves with flowers, lanterns, flags, and wind chimes, things that would not be allowed in a city cemetery. It was really beautiful out there today. We miss you. Dad, Dan, and Steve!

Photo #88: Gains and Losses

Keeping this photo blog is having an interesting effect on my life. Some days are easy, things happen and it's obvious that is where my photo will come from. Other days I have to go looking for an idea. I find myself observing things more thoughtfully. I'm noticing things, I just walked past before. When an easy shot doesn't come my way, I find myself getting up and going places. Today was one of those days. I hopped in the car and began to drive around looking for some inspiration. I ended up driving out to the old Altoona Cemetery where many family members are buried.

My sister and I have been talking a lot about losses recently. We lost both of our brothers three years ago. My mother's companion, Loren died just three weeks ago, so once again we have seen my mom grieving. I find that each time you suffer a loss, you tend to revisit the previous ones.

Most of our family is buried in the new Altoona Cemetery, but I came to the old cemetery looking for Loyd's grave. Loyd was my mother's brother and he drowned when he was only 9 years old. Just a few feet away lies the grave of Rosella Burget, my grandmother's mother. Rosella died in the influenza epidemic of 1919. My grandma was only six and her sister Margaret was four. After their mother died, they were sent to live with their Grandma Strain, who not only lost her daughter, Rosella, that week, but her son as well. In this era of antibiotics, it is difficult to imagine this kind of epidemic, and widespread loss of life.

My grandmother, Lula, was a wonderful loving person. She valued family. Maybe that is because she lost her own family when she was so young. The tragic loss of her own son had to have been a horrible experience for her, and the rest of the family. She is the one who held us all together. For years I grumbled when she insisted we attend the family reunions. We lost her back in 1996. Ironically my sister and I organized several of these reunions in later years.

The thing I have gained from the loss of my brothers is that I finally learned to appreciate and treasure those people who I do have in my life. I guess my grandma must have learned that too. I am so lucky to have my mom and my sister.