Today, when we met at Anthony’s grave, my mother reminded me that it was 16 years from the time Anthony and I first met to our wedding day. I was a bit nonplussed, and slightly embarrassed, as I didn’t think it had been that long.
I had brought a rake, several big garbage bags, and gardening gloves because I wanted to rake the woodchips off the mound of earth under which Anthony is buried, and tidy things up if need be. So, as we reminisced, my mother and I filled two garbage bags with woodchips, then sat down to contemplate the unsightly mound of earth still there.
A couple of years ago, Ming and I were away and my mother visited Anthony’s grave to find the mound of earth covered in weeds and the whole cemetery looking a bit bedraggled. She was incensed at the neglect of her only son-in-law’s grave so she went and bought several bags of woodchips, dragged them through the cemetery and, bit by bit, spread them over the mound. Then she wrote an indignantly effective letter to the local shire and, ever since then, the cemetery has been as pristine as the day of the burial.
Woodchips look amazing to begin with but, after a couple of years, they look shabby. Also, someone else has now been buried so close to end of the mound where Anthony’s feet might be, that it feels as if she is treading on his toes. I don’t like it!
Eradicating the mound of earth which was supposed to have gone down by now, will alleviate the grave-to-grave proximity problem and it will also stop my imagination from seeing Anthony’s dead body just under the surface of that mound.
I will ring the local shire on Monday to see if they can flatten the mound so that grass can grow there. If they say that this may take some time I will simply tell them that I am only willing to wait 16 years.
jmgoyder 
You are a master of the punch line, Juli!
Sad memories