Walking with the dead….

For a variety of reasons I’ve recently been walking at the Hooker (Okla) Cemetery.

It was my custom to walk early in the morning a mile and a half or so on the golf course out back at least three times a week. But then sepsis intervened in my life and I found myself in a hospital environment for a couple of months leaving me in a very weakened physical state. So, I’m trying to get my walking distance back to where it was prior to July 11 of last year 

As I walked in the heat of the Hooker Cemetery, another cemetery came to mind.

The Balgay Cemetery on one of Dundee Scotland’s taller hills is a great place to walk. Actually, now that I think about it, almost any place in the old country is a great place to walk.

From the Balgay Cemetery one can look down on the RiverTay as it makes its approach to the North Sea. It’s a lovely place. There are many large, nice old trees, old gravestones that give you glimpses of history as you read their weathered inscriptions. There are  even some benches that allow you to restfully contemplate your surroundings. 

Benches in the old country, whether they be in a cemetery, on a seaside, on a gentle hill, or like Brian’s Bench on the path up behind Balmullo is simply on the way, in this case to Willie’s Wood. Those benches seem to carry an unspoken invitation to sit. Accepting the invitation I submit, can be healthy for many reasons.

The Balgay is a resting place for some of the family with names such as McCaffertys, Cookson, Hughes, Dunn, Henry, & Wooding.

The oldest burial in Balgay was in 1871.

The Hooker Cemetery is nothing like that!  

There’s not a hill. No river. No benches with invitations to sit, it’s just a small piece of prairie with gravestones. There are a few hardy trees that have survived the High Desert climate. If you get tired, there’s a few of those little concrete benches more decorative than anything on some of the graves, or you can lean/sit on a headstone. 

There is little to no traffic and the paths are relatively smooth. And while there are many people, they are in no position to talk.

The calls of some Bob White quail, and pheasants break up the monotony a bit and you can see a few cottontails scurrying to get out of sight. And you must keep a wary eye out for snakes.

And today (July 19) it was, I’m certain, much hotter than Balgay. It was 95 (F) at 5 this afternoon. No light jacket needed!

This evening I was joined by two large dogs who greeted me as I stopped my truck next to Mom & Dad’s graves on the east middle of the cemetery. As I stopped my old truck I heard a strange sound for which I could not account. It was the panting breath of two very friendly dogs waiting expectantly for me to step out of the truck so I could be welcomed in proper dog fashion.

I looked around to see who was with the very friendly dogs but soon concluded they were alone. The two dogs had left the cool shade of a nearby evergreen just to come and greet me.

I did get my walk in, but my new friends decided, wisely so, to stay in the shade of their big tree and not walk with me. 

I’m thankful that there is more to life than being dead.