Unrelated events

I'm feeling low-key and reflective - well, more than usual, anyway - so here's a smattering of what's going on in my life.

On Sunday night/Monday morning we had a good bit of snow in Winston, which was fun to watch but not fun to drive in. I've driven in snow before, but somehow I managed to spin out on a highway ramp and do some significant damage to the rear driver's side. So now I have to deal with the crap of fixing it and all the joys that accompany responsibility: Find a place to get it fixed, the estimation, the rental car.... ugh.

Yesterday I was out taking care of the aforementioned crap when I saw a graveyard and went in on a whim. It was wonderful and peaceful: walking along in the midst of memories I'll never know. All the stories that lie in the dash between "Born on" and "Died on" - it's overwhelming and absorbing. Many stories are straightforward: So-and-so fought in Korea, married, had a child, died. This woman lived for 20 years after her husband died; that man survived a war but died soon after; and on the stories go. Sifting through Death's collection, though, it doesn't take long to find a story that prompts a question or reflection. There's the mother buried beside her then-six-year-old daughter who died in the same year... probably a car crash claimed both. There's the man who likely bought his thirtysomething younger brother a plot next to his own; the 22-year-old with an image of a VW bug on his gravestone; the woman with ceramic cats on hers.

Of course, it's hard to visit a graveyard without thinking of your own mortality. While most of the dead spent at least 60 years above the ground, others had their time cut short at 44, 37, 24, even 18. I've lived longer than the last two listed, and every breath seems to remind me that the next one isn't guaranteed. I recently told my counselor that not too long ago I saw death as a possible escape from life; now it scares me more than anything. I can't bear the thought of ending my story right now; I need to emerge from this mire first!

So, it's off to deal with the mire. I hope your respective "dashes" are going along well - just don't dash through them too fast!