Entering the Twilight Zone

My friend Deborah and I traveled to the Twilight Zone this afternoon...

I left home not knowing exactly how the day would go so we decided, rather on the fly, to head south toward Interlaken, NY and look for the final resting place of Rod Serling. I'd had a heads up from Tom, the Backroads Traveller as to it's whereabouts, but hadn't looked up directions or anything ahead of time. (No, I don't have GPS on my phone.)

It's hard to get lost in upstate NY. We have a Great Lake on the north that stretches pretty much from one end to the other, and a set of really cool long lakes that run north and south between a volley of large hills which we call drumlins. They make pretty awesome landmarks and keep long time residents from ever wandering totally aimless. (But I digress, probably because I should be going to bed...)

I'd been in Ovid, NY just Sunday so my mind was refreshed on the direction to take. We found Interlaken and the Lake View (in this case Cayuga Lake) Cemetery rather effortlessly, but it was the grave of Rod Serling we had come to see and that took a bit of wandering. In our wandering we came upon a cemetery map posted on the back of a little information center. It listed last names and locations of plots. Had we not stumbled upon the map, we may have wandered for days.

Rod's marker is decorated somewhat differently today than it was when Tom made his visit. There was a small futuristic car, a little figurine, a metal lighter, stones, coins, pens, and a rock that said "Time enough at last." Deb left him a cough drop and I contributed a penny because I didn't have anything else very interesting in my pockets beside quarters.

I wondered later, along with the Cabinet Maker who is in North Carolina working on a job, what happens to all the little trinkets that decorate Rod's grave...

Deborah and I continued our cemetery wandering, taking pictures, and wondering at carvings and inscriptions. We took in life and loss, great sorrow and words of hope. There is much to be gleaned from a walk through the past and I'm thankful for a friend who will wander rows of slate and marble without making me feel foolish for being drawn there.

I was taken by surprise when I saw an urn smiling down at me from atop a granite marker and found myself smiling back. Who'd have imagined a bit of humor amidst the stones?