08 December 2009

This was taken at Shiloh Cemetery in Windsor, CA. All I can tell you about it is that there is someone named Matt buried here. What I found interesting was that in a plastic back upon the grave was a journal obviously written by the deceased. I wondered to myself if it was left by the family so anyone could read? I decided to leave it alone out of respect although I almost couldn't resist taking a peak. I figured it must have been left for family members only or just left there because Matt liked to write and they thought it should be with him. I wondered why it wasn't buried with him? Was it an afterthought or something they may have found while going through his belongings after death? It must have been fairly recent and judging by the age of the boy in the picture it was most likely unexpected. I always try to leave things as I find them. Once in awhile I'll stand up some flowers or a small statue that has blown over but that's about as far as I go...
This is how it was preserved by the family...I guess I'll always have to wonder what it said inside...

4 comments:

  1. it seems such a shame that it is just laying out in the weather in a ziplock bag, it would have been hard for me not to peek as well. Would it be possible to find out from the cemetery, a contact person for the deceased and permission asked to preserve the journal? Seems like such a waste of the poor young mans writing.

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  2. I hadn't thought of that. All I could think about is why I shouldn't read it...

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  3. Also the grave only had a picture of the boy and no marker. I am never in Windsor except for this day. I hopped over on my lunch break because I was looking at a job down the street. This is how I come across many of these cemeteries...

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  4. This reminds me a lot of the homemade memorials I have seen in a couple of local cemeteries that allow this. I had even thought that some bottles left on a couple of graves were litter, but it turns out that families and friends sometimes have "21st birthday parties" - with champagne or whatever - for children who died before their 21st birthday.

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