"funeral"

grave, originally uploaded by staarkidd.

My grandma kept getting confused and calling the grave the funeral. I had to smile. The site was different than i imagined. This large Dennis marker stood in the center of a section of graves holding many generations of my family. It was bold and strangely proud. it was not sad at all. grandma told us about the brief histories of several generations, the family feuds, the things they endured.

I was most curious about our family names. I knew that grandpa was Ford Ephriam Dennis, but i didn't know that his father was Ford Akerson Dennis and his father Ford Ephriam Dennis. Other family names struck me... Orrin- grandma's grandfather and also the name of her brother-they were black dirt farmers. I was again reminded of how my family is bound with deep love and deep respect to the earth. it was beautiful to discover these things once again.