Final Piece of Real Estate

To some, this post will seem a bit morbid or depressing. It's not. You see, The Colonel and I just purchased our cemetery plots, which if you really think about it, is most practical. As we all know, no one gets out alive.

The Colonel and I love the cemetery we chose to be buried in (many, many years from now of course). It is the second oldest in the county (established in 1886), we often eat our lunch in it and we have twice given historical, haunted tours in it near Halloween. The county's historical center wants to do the tours again this fall. The Colonel, Darling-Sister-In-Law and I cannot wait to be part of it again.

The process that eventually ended in the purchase of our final resting places began with a visit to the Public Works office. Cookie, the lady who is in charge of the sale of plots, was on vacation, but her fill-in gave us a map of the cemetery that showed which plots were still available for purchase and told us Cookie would be back next week.

We took said map to the cemetery and began walking the areas that had plots for purchase. As we looked at the numbers on the map, we noticed the number for lot 728. We walked to where we thought lot 728 would be. There was no numbered marker on the ground to let us know if we were on the correct lot. We became excited to know that lot 728 was open for purchase.

When Cookie was back from her vacation, The Colonel and I paid her a visit. "We would like to purchase two plots in lot 728 please." Cookie, "That is not possible right now. It has not been surveyed yet." Our disappointment was short lived when Cookie said she would put our names in the book for lot 728, plots 7&8 with a yellow Post-it Note, as a sort of "dibs", even though that was not regulation. She told us we could purchase our chosen plots once the area was surveyed. Cookie did not know when that would be. She did say she was retiring in September of this year and The Colonel and I hoped the survey would be completed before Cookie's retirement. We liked working with her (her fill-in was very nice too, but Cookie has been doing this for many, many years).

During one of our cemetery sojourns (we visited it often, we really wanted plots in lot 728 once they became available. I will tell you why later) The Colonel and I noticed a survey crew among the headstones. The crew was making its way to where we thought lot 728 was. We were pleased to know that the survey of the cemetery was progressing.

It was about two weeks after our first meeting with Cookie that we discovered lot 728 had been surveyed.

I called Cookie to confirm this, which she did, and told her we would be in to make our purchases the next day.

It was good to see Cookie again and see that once my check was signed and handed to her, she officially put our names in the book for lot 728, plots 7&8. No more yellow Post-it Note!

Why all this hoopla about wanting to be buried in lot 728 (even Cookie agreed with the legitimacy of our reason)?

The pinnacle of The Colonel's 20-year career with the U.S. Air Force was when he was Commander of the 728th ACS (Air Control Squadron).

It seems as though it is our destiny (and fortune) to be (many, many years from now) laid to rest in lot 728 in our favorite cemetery.

See the nearest, little, white marker in the foreground of the picture below? That marks the corner of lot 728, plots 7&8. Notice the tree line in the background? Behind those trees is Alligator Creek. We like that our plots are near the creek.

This is the view from our plots as you look towards the older section of the cemetery (the white marker marks the corner of lot 728. Our plots are just to the left of it).

From our plots you can see Wal-Mart. It is the tallest, tan building in the background, right of the telephone pole. Wal-Mart will come in handy for any visitors who wish to purchase flowers to place on our graves (hint, hint, Yam and Spud).

We walked around the cemetery after we purchased our plots. We walked primarily in the newer section where our plots are located. There were some interesting gravestones there like that of Miss Daytona Beach 1944 and the little bench with its funny saying.

I performed a subdued jig of sorts upon my future grave, just to be able to say I danced upon my own grave. This reminded me of an episode of one of my favorite television series, Northern Exposure, where Ed buys Ruth-Ann a grave for her birthday and they both dance on it at the end of the show.

The Colonel will have a military headstone to mark his resting place and I will have my own headstone. I am in the process of deciding what I want it to look like and what to have written upon it (a somewhat daunting task).

We have more on our final wishes, to-do list, but it gives us some peace of mind knowing our final piece of real estate has already been purchased.