10:04 p.m. | 2006-08-12 My New Digs. My friend, Wombie, and I have been busy as of late. What have we been doing? We�ve been doing volunteer work. Voluntarily, of course. Not any kind of mandated community service albeit, as I�ve not updated for so long, you might suspect that I was sentenced to some kind of honor farm. And, I have been in a sense, but not the sense you might think. See, Wombie and I, as volunteers, recently adopted a plot. You read that right�a �plot�. A plot in a cemetery. A really old cemetery. Actually, the oldest cemetery in MyTown. How did this happen, you might ask. Or not. But, I�ll tell ya. I met Wombie around the beginning of this year. He�s awesome and a really good friend of mine. One day, he mentioned that he wanted to do some volunteer work and knew about this great program where you adopt a plot and then make a commitment to beautify the space by creating and maintaining a garden. For regular readers, I don�t think I need to tell you about how much I love to garden and how I�ve been frustrated in that regard since I moved Downtown. As you can imagine, I was immediately intrigued by this program. However, we both mulled it over for quite a while since it�s a serious commitment. A two-year commitment at a minimum. That�s what gave us pause. We both love cemeteries, history and gardening. No doubt. But, the commitment? Maybe too much? Yet, the opportunity became more attractive the more we mulled it over. Finally, a month ago, we signed up. Signed up for what? To create and maintain a garden in the cemetery. Specifically, to beautify a fairly large plot for a long time. We made an appointment, wondered around the cemetery and ended up being drawn to a plot that has a wonderful tree and is divided into three sections. Within one section, a couple is buried. In another section, a man, his first wife, four of their children, his second wife and two of their children are buried. In the third section, who knows? There aren�t any markers. They all lived and died either in the 1800's or early 1900's. What we noticed right away? Six children under twelve are buried there. Twelve being a generous number. Most are babies. That�s evident to us, as follows: (Wombie:) Hey CI, �dead babies� on Saturday? (CI:) Sure, I�ll meet you there. As volunteer, historical gardeners (see, serious commitment), we�re encouraged to research our, well, rather permanent garden residents. We�re both very enthusiastic about that, but haven�t had time to make much headway. However, almost every decision we make is geared toward honoring the people buried in our plot. Sorry, there�s no easy way around what we�re dealing with. To wit: (CI:) Nice to see you HeadVolunteerPerson. Hey, I have a question for you. My friends and family are a little confused, well, and frankly concerned, about us digging in a �plot�. Um, they�re concerned that with all the digging that goes with gardening that we might dig someone up, so to speak. What about that? (HVP:) That�s not really a problem. First, they�re buried pretty deep. Second, the people in your plot? They probably couldn�t afford metal caskets. Third, they�ve been buried for more than 100 years so... decomposition. Probably not anything there. However... (CI:) (In my head:) �However?� (HVP:) If you do dig up bones, just re-bury them at least three feet under and don�t tell anyone. (CI and Wombie:) Um, does that happen? (HVP:) Sure. Mostly from gophers. With all the burrowing they do, they tend to push bones to the surface. Just re-bury any bones that crop up. That�s some serious gardening right there. When there�s a fair chance that you�re going to dig someone up? Yeah. That takes some gardening, um, globes, if you get my meaning. Actually, we tease each other whenever we dig. And, we dug deep today. We�ve been working the garden for about a month and it�s looking good. Typically, we garden on Saturday and there�s a crew, so to speak, that also works at the cemetery on the weekends. Both our work and their work makes �honor farm� an appropriate term. It�s good though. I�m loving the cemetery, the history, the gardening and time spent with Wombie. As it�s a public space, we�re also feeling somewhat competitive about it. Most �plots� are tended by old ladies, which is great of course, but we, mostly Wombie, are feeling a little �fierce� about it. His enthusiasm about it�frankly, his desire to win �awards��brings a great sense of humor to it for me. Mostly though? It�s the most perfect thing I�ve done in a long time. your thoughts? seed flower