THE HOLDING TOMB

When a photo opportunity presents itself we rejoice for the good luck and light which puts that picture on your screen. In certain urban areas where the car may be welcome, but the camera is not, we do not tarry. We keep the motor running. In our more pastoral scenes we shut it down to preserve the hush of those spaces which abide in peace.

The tract pictured above would seem to be a pastoral place, but we kept the motor running just the same. We are just past the "Receiving Tomb" at Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, S.C. While we were happy to be there, we were not interested in being "received" in that particular manner. While not superstitious, we and not interested in tempting fate in this way.

Like Satchel Paige we don't much like looking back for the rearview mirror reminds us of what might be gaining on us. Seldom good news. It shows where we've just been: no news at all. What we really love is a clean windshield, an open window, the road ahead. Good news.

It seems that the "Receiving Tomb" was a holding pattern for those who had finished breathing, but were not yet ready for planting. It must have been a bit then like getting stuck in the Atlanta Airport now. Many of us would rather be IN the ground than to languish ON the ground in that Purgatory.