Day Three

We spent the morning walking the old cemetery grounds and learning about the Old Key West. I find solace in cemeteries. I always have. Many people think that is weird or strange, but if you were a Family Genealogist like myself, you would understand. Every headstone tells a story. Sit, Rest, Reflect or In God's Care, Perfect Peace and Child of my Heart mean something to me. How that person lived. How they impacted the lives around them. How they were thought of even after death. My youngest son, Joseph was always the child of my heart with his sweet smile and carefree life as a child. He was pleasant, social and happy. He was the child of my heart. All three of my sons are so different, yet so much the same. Shaun the protector, Joshua, the sensitive and loving and Joseph, the child of my heart. I walked amongst the graves reading, reflecting and finding peace within this tortured heart.

The names on the stones stood out to me. Some names were Texas, Lydia, Earl. It is funny to see a person's first name as Texas, which was not a state back then, but is a state today. Most had Spanish names. Some were famous, most were ordinary people living ordinary lives. The only Tropical Birds of the island were in the cemetery when we spotted two Herons. There were also a few lizards. Nearly three feet long that when you approached, they ran down underneath a grave. Bodies and lizards living together. Now that is a strange thought. The graves were mostly above ground due to the chance of flooding. The cemetery opened in 1842 after the cemetery on Higgs Beach washed away. The same thing happened in New Orleans and Jamestown. The bodies that were interred in the ground had cement or bricks paved on top. Another way to prevent, bodies from surfacing and washing away in a flood zone. I have pictures to be posted later.

The afternoon was spent at the pool with pool side frozen drinks called Pineapple Chi Chi. Today, the sun was hot. The music, typical island. The man smoking a cigar, annoying. Last night, I watched all the 20 somethings dancing to their type of music from my balcony. They were fun to watch. They seemed so happy and carefree. They laughed while they danced and the night time breeze through the Palm trees caught it in the air. To be young again and feel so carefree.