Abstract Ideas about Cemeteries

Plato, as you might remember, had a little bit of an obsession with shapes. He believed that there was a realm where shapes existed in a perfected form. And because of that, I’ve always made fun of him behind his back.

The thing is, though, I’m guilty of the same thing. I have ideas of how things should look that have absolutely no basis in reality. For example, I have ideas about cemeteries. In the abstract, they have cross-shaped tombstones, wrought iron fences, and there are burial mounds. Have I ever seen a cemetery like this? No, well at least not until around a year ago.

We were driving on the highway from Phoenix to Casa Grande when I saw it. “What is that?” I asked my husband. What I should have said was, “Pull over!” because I’ve been low-key thinking about this place for about a year. So since we were in the area, I decided to drop in and pay my respects.

Now that’s what a cemetery is supposed to look like.

The cemetery is named the Sacaton Cemetery after the town that it’s in. All the markers that I saw dated from the 1990’s to the present. The cemetery itself is divided in two by a barbed wire fence. As far as I can tell, this fence marks the boundary of the East Sacaton cemetery, which belongs to the Gila River Indian tribe.

Not wrought iron, but still cool.

There are some stones, but overwhelmingly the marker of choice is a wooden cross. The graves are decked out with memorial items; everything from a favorite drink, to pictures, to a stuffed bear.

Hey, when I die, I fully expect you, Dear Reader, to place a can of Diet Coke on my grave. No ice. Please and thank you.

Chair for hanging out in.

It was windy.  We even saw tumbleweeds!

One of the more unique markers.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

While I was in Arizona, I saw the movie Annihilation, and now I feel like I need to clarify what I mean by "Refracted."  I don't mean an evil rainbow haze that will mutate you into a fungus and make your insides writhe.  Refraction is the phenomena that makes the sky appear blue.  White light hits the atmosphere and splits into its different components, which bounce off in different directions depending on their wave length.  That's what I mean.  No, I'm not going to spawn doppelgangers that make weird sounds and take over the earth.  No, you will not turn into a fruit tree if you read my blog.  

'Nuff said.