By Abe Villarreal
At the little cemetery in my town, outside the big city cemetery, gravestones are sinking into the ground. Names of loved ones are covered by shifting waves of dirt. What were once shiny memorial markers are now forgotten slabs of cracked concrete.
When time passes, we forget what we said we will never forget. Stones are engraved with messages like "always in our hearts" and "sisters forever." Some graves, the older ones, don't even have a headstone.
Just a name and dates carved into a placeholder. Bodies that once belonged to someone are now nameless.
Where I live, there are a few cemeteries. The city cemetery, beautifully maintained and landscaped. With tall conifer trees and little streets in between sections, I often see daily walkers enjoying the serenity of the cemetery.
Then there's the privately owned cemetery just outside the main cemetery's gates. It's a little forgotten both by the caretakers and by many families who probably don't live in the area anymore. In the unincorporated areas outside of the city limits there are other cemeteries. They are also in a semi-forgotten state.
Maybe most old things get forgotten as they get older. Time doesn't wait on any of us, and it's hard to keep true to promises about never forgetting. It's tougher to accept when it's a person that's no longer remembered.
It really bugs me to see these plots lost to the sands of time. I know that each grave has a story, a family member, a neighbor. Each person contributed something to the place we call home, so a few weeks ago I had a few hours on my hands and dug out the gravestones.
I didn't do all of them. There are too many. The ones I did were ones that have lost a connection to today. They were laid to rest at least 50 years ago. Some of them were World War I veterans. Others, younger people that didn't make it into their thirties.
The last names were different from the ones I'm used to hearing today. Communities change over time. Different groups come and go. People are like that. They create something until the next generation creates something different. It's okay and it shouldn't scare us or make us feel uncomfortable.
Cemeteries are interesting places because they are created by someone, or some people, to last the test of time. They record history. They tell stories. They preserve family connections. They document communities.
Until they don't. When they become places of abandonment. People around me like to blame local governments but we all have a role to play in maintaining, and uplifting our communities. Digging a gravestone and bringing it back to life is one way we can all do our part.
It's also a good way to spend a Saturday morning. Digging, reflecting, learning, and wondering about this temporary place we call home.
Abe Villarreal writes about the traditions, people, and culture of America. He can be reached at
