S T E R L I N G   C E N T E R   C E M E T E R Y

Sterling, New York

I just finished reading a great book, "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom. It's a quick read, I read it in a day. But its small size is misleading. It's a fascinating book that serves as a conduit into which the dying Morrie Schwartz can pass on his jewels of wisdom to the masses. Morrie is in a particularly interesting position, he is dying, and that gives him a unique perspective on life. It was from this book that I learned my previous quote of "your must die well before you can live well."

Now back to my cemetery tour. This proves to be an extra special cemetery because some of the gravestones date back to the mid-1840s. It's usually the old headstones that are the most plain. Not sure why that is. Perhaps because back then the headstones had to be cut by hand and poor folks could only afford the plain ones?

Here are a few of the older headstones that are more ornate. So far, I haven't found any special inscriptions, like a poem or words of wisdom to the living.

Great! I've finally found an inscription, BUT I CAN'T COMPLETELY READ IT! How frustrating. The stone is so old I can't make it out. Not unlike the people interned here, the headstones also have a limited lifespan.

And that gets me to thinking. What inscription will I have on my gravestone? Well, actually that isn't going to work for me. I don't want to be buried. Why? At one time I thought being cooked in an incinerator was about the worse thing they could do to my hopefully dead body, but years ago I learned otherwise. You see, when they bury someone by today's standards, they put the body in something called a hermetically sealed coffin.