'PowerHouseCreatives Contest' - Ready, Set, Write: Which Prompt Did I Pick?
For this week's Powerhousecreatives contest I am choosing the sentence: "The cemetery was rather quiet on my annual visit."
I mulled over the six sentence options for quite some time this morning and actually changed my mind four times before settling on this one.
The cemetery was rather quiet on my annual visit. I don't come here often enough as you can tell. Once a year is just not enough. I could make every excuse under the sun like I've been working too many hours, I am exhausted by the time I get home or the weekends are spent doing various errands and chores... but those aren't justified.
Does not coming here more frequent make me a bad person? That question pops into my head whenever I feel maudlin.
To be completely honest, coming here can be relaxing at times; especially as it is now. Quiet. Serene. And sometimes I can let go of the feeling that I have been dismissive of the purpose of coming here at all.
I like to be alone. But I'm not fully alone. Hints of life surround me here.
I can hear birds chirping in the distance. I can see the trees' leaves blowing in the gently wind creating a sputtering hiss. I can feel the breeze as it gently brushes across my cheek and face.
Every so often a chipmunk can be seen dashing from a tree to another hiding place.
As I dig my hands into the cook grass, trimming away weeds, or when I replace the annual flowers I plant near the headstone, I am overcome with a tranquility from deep within my soul.
Perhaps if I really made an effort to come more frequent I wouldn't feel this dismal. I need to strive to do that; and to hold myself accountable when I don't do that.
The person's name on the headstone is just as familiar to me as it is a mystery to me. I don't even know this person. Never met them.
But I had heard about this person. They were to be buried alone. They were not having a funeral service. They had no family. They were all alone in this world when their life ended.
I had heard about the funeral service on the news on morning. Sad, I know. This person had no one in the world to call their own and apparently the funeral home contacted the news about it. Newscasters made pleas to the general public for their attendance, as they felt the same as I do, no one deserves to be alone.
So I attended the funeral five years; with hundreds of other people. Then I came to the cemetery to watch this person's casket being lowered into the ground.
Not a day goes by that I didn't think of this person over the last five years. But I just can never come out here more than once a year. It's heart breaking really. This person died alone and was almost buried without anyone around to say goodbye, and here I am preferring to be alone while I am still living.
So I feel as though I have a connection to this person; even though we never made each others' acquaintance in life. We are alone... together.
For the entire contest rules and information see this link
Contest and winnings only open to PowerHouseCreatives' members.
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