The weather is strangely nice for a few days, so I’ve been trying to get outside a bit. So I went to a short, paved trail in uptown where you can walk and think without worrying about tree roots.
Part of the Carolina Harmony Trail runs alongside the new Shelby Dog Park, and further down, it runs alongside part of Sunset Cemetery, which is one of my favorite places to saunter. This historic cemetery holds many interesting tales – if you have time to spare (and there’s nothing like walking through a peaceful cemetery to remember that we don’t know how much of that precious resource we have), you might enjoy this video. Yesterday, I left the trail and wandered in a loop around part of the cemetery before rejoining the trail and found myself at the site pictured at the top of the post. Several years back, Shelby decided to give a final resting place to 33 poor souls whose remains had been unclaimed by family. It’s not that these people didn’t have names – each stone bears their name and birth/death dates – but no one claimed them. I find that sad, yet I’m very glad I live in a place where these folks are given a dignified burial. Sunset, like many old cemeteries, has not always been so kind and the city is wrestling with the right way to mark and teach about the unmarked grave section of the cemetery.
Back to the trail. One reason I love this easy little trail so much is that it provides such an easy reset – while walking through the thin line of woods that separate the trail from the cemetery property, I was under a graceful canopy of vibrant autumn leaves. I stopped to look up and, just at that moment, saw a pair of mated hawks soar silently by, maybe 15 feet above my head. And I could have so easily missed it. And today, I stopped and really, really listened and looked until I found the small red-headed woodpecker who was knocking on the base of a tree for his lunch. Divas, please remember that it’s not all about speed and step counts. Nature is Mother – let her show you her wonders.
The world is full of Good Things, Divas!
Leave a Reply