Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

Inside Jimi Hendrix’s monument, Greenwood Cemetery

The photo prompt for this week is another one that’s tough to illustrate in a cemetery.  I want to write about Seattle’s Lake View Cemetery for tomorrow’s Cemetery of the Week, so I’ll stick close geographically, if not in the same immediate grounds.

During my trip to Washington in February 2009, I wanted to visit Hendrix’s grave because his guitar-playing was so influential for my husband.  We were staying with two musician friends in Seattle, so they were kind enough to chauffer me out to Greenwood Memorial Park in Renton.  The weather was chilly and gray, but the rain held off while we poked around.

My host William chuckled about the conversation he’d face at work on the Monday after our visit. “Oh, what did you do this weekend?” he’d be asked.  “Oh, nothing,” he’d say.  “Just hung out in some cemeteries.”

I didn’t immediately recognize that some people might find such a thing unusual.  I’ve been going to graveyards so long that it’s second nature.  I always seek out graveyards when I travel.  Even at home, I may spend as much time in graveyards as I do in the park.  If I have some time on my own to kill, I often find the closest graveyard to explore.

I wasn’t sure if I should apologize to William, but he just laughed at me.  “I know how you are,” he said.  “It’s no problem.”

At least my hobby gets me outside.