Thursday, June 26, 2014

... life in seasons...




Today has been exciting. I signed paperwork so that I’m now an official tour guide to one of my favorite spots, Hollywood Cemetery. It’s such a beautiful place and I have loved it as long as I can remember. This was a fairly extensive journey that began in January through a guide school course which focused on the history of the location. I love a good story but until this course I always found history to be a bit dry and full of numbers and facts that don’t have any meaning in my life. This all changed with this course. I’ve been reading extensively and have a whole new appreciation.  In many ways, this has been a decade longing which finally came to fruition. Even in my old life I had wanted to work as a guide but the stars just didn’t align until this year. My therapist sees life as a series of seasons which as a gardener I adore. Even in life, there is a time to sit and “winter”; there is a time to grow and “spring”; there is a time to let go parts of yourself and “fall”; and, there is a time to simply appreciate the abundance of hard work and “summer”. For a little over five years now I have been watching my seasons changing. I finally feel like I’ve reached a bit of summer.  

6 comments:

  1. Congratulations! I became a Friend of our local pioneer cemetery last year, and I'd love to become a tour guide. Unfortunately, the cemetery is currently closed for much needed repairs and conservation, so who knows when that will be!

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    1. Thanks! I'm very excited! I'm sure one I get started *officially*, I'll be writing more about it. Right now, I'm working on my script and researching. One exciting part of the tours is that all tours are a little bit different based on the guide. ((And, we also have a resident *vampire* that we're told not to talk about but yet each and every guide talks about. I'll have my own twist on that too)).

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    2. A resident vampire??? Please DO tell more, inquiring minds would love to know...

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  2. What a GREAT thing to do! I grew up (well my mother grew up, but we visited there often because it was 69 miles away and ... well, long boring story) near Elizabeth City, NC, and their cemetery was called "Hollywood Cemetery". Being the film buff that I am, the name always delighted me, as did the place itself. It's beautiful, with old graves going back and back. There is a "New Hollywood" section but I never go here when I visit. Always to the old section. :)

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