As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we were away this past weekend for our family reunion at my brother's house. There is a pet cemetery nearby. I've never been to that pet cemetery or any other. When I hear "pet cemetery," what comes to my mind is the 1989 movie "Pet Sematary" based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. I didn't read the novel, but I do remember seeing the movie with a friend. I've never been a fan of horror movies, so I'm not sure why I decided to go. The movie was freaky and scary, but it was really more about people than pets.
While I always knew there was a pet cemetery near my brother's house, I was never inclined to visit it before. On Friday morning, my brother-in-law took my daughter, his daughter and another cousin over to the pet cemetery for geocaching. Unfortunately, they found poison ivy instead of the geocache! Since they had ventured over there, my husband and I decided to take a look at the cemetery for ourselves. Then I went back later to take some photos.
At first thought, it seems excessive or perhaps eccentric to have a cemetery (and especially elaborate gravestones) for pets. I know a lot of people who dearly love their pets. My family loves our two cats, and we are very fond of many of our friends' pets as well. Yet I have never heard any of my pet-owning friends mention burying their dog or cat in a pet cemetery. Still, there I was in a pet cemetery full of burial plots with gravestones, statues and monuments big and small. Some were a bit neglected, but others had clearly been visited quite recently. Flowers and candles and little tokens were left there next to some of the gravestones. While I'm pretty sure I would never go to the extent of purchasing a gravestone for a pet, still - it was quite moving to see. The details on the gravestones, the inscriptions, the tokens left behind all speak to the great love that people have for their animal companions. And, really, animal companions are very loyal friends. As humans, we sometimes disappoint, neglect and hurt each other. Pets, on the other hand, love unconditionally.
*****
My niece told me that she had heard that two pet monkeys were buried in the pet cemetery.
Sure enough, we found those graves among the cats and dogs:
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| Hermie is buried alongside his dog "brother" Charlie. It appears that they died within a year of each other. I wonder what sort of companionship they had with each other. |
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| Cissy was a "sweet little darlin' pookers" to her human family for twenty years. The photograph attached on the upper left hand corner of the grave shows Cissy in a dress. |
Additional pictures from the pet cemetery along with a selection of quotes about cats and dogs:
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| Snoopy's grave is decorated for the July 4th holiday. |
The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.
- Andy Rooney
All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed.
For after all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog.
- Charles M. Schulz
The only creatures that are evolved enough to convey pure love are dogs and infants.
- Johnny Depp
The only escape from the miseries of life are music and cats...
- Albert Schweitzer
What greater gift than the love of a cat.
- Charles Dickens
You never liked horror movies??? I swear I saw Poltergeist, Amityville Horror, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and many other such scary movies with you. I haven't liked them for many, many years but I DID like them (or thought I liked them) when I went to see them, possibly with you.
ReplyDeleteAnd, synchronicity or coincidence or something, I just read this passage in God's Hotel by Victoria Sweet:
"Dogs are just like people only they have four senses instead five. They can't talk, that's all. They understand everything, though, everything. They just can't talk."
"Even politics and religion?" I teased.
"Everything!"
You got me on that, Lori! I *did* like them when I was younger. A Nightmare on Elm Street might have been the turning point for me. By college, I was not a fan of horror movies any more. I love that quote about dogs! And now I have a new book to add to my TBR list, too.
DeleteAnother great quote from God's Hotel:
ReplyDelete"Although it had seemed to Dee and Tee that the Head Nurse did nothing except knit, that nothing was the nothing that, as the Tao says, the Superior Man does when everything that was supposed to be done has been done." A small part of a larger section where the author is describing the effects of cost cutting measures and showing the inefficiency of efficiency. Definitely more powerful in context, I think.
Also, I have read Choice Words by Peter Johnston which I saw mentioned on FB. He presented at a Reading Recovery conference I was attending in Ohio a couple of years ago. He is dynamic presenter and full of wonderful ideas and information.