Thursday, March 1, 2012

COULD YOU LIVE NEXT TO A CEMETERY?




I'm not moving.
But I look at houses all the time on-line.
I'd love to have a "breezeway".
I found one house that is all on one level. It doesn't have exactly a breezeway but the garage is a few steps from the house and it's all under one roof.
A small house but big enough for me and the critters.
It has a nice level backyard that backed up to the cemetery.
It has a cute screened porch on the back which you could walk out onto through French doors.
I envisioned walking out with my morning coffee and letting the dogs romp out in the yard. There was a wobbly wire fence that would need to be replaced with something sturdy, and no border trees to shield the view of the old cemetery. But that didn't bother me.
At least not until I went with my sister and my nieces to that cemetery to take photos at night on the Day of the Dead:
http://oldblackcatboo.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-am-not-going-back.html
But what did bother me was that it was in the part of town where 2 blocks East is nice neighborhoods and yet 2 blocks West is not a safe area.
So, scratch THAT house.
Not that I'm moving anyway.
There are many houses bordering that cemetery. Mostly very nice neighborhoods.
Then there's another cemetery in town situated in the best of areas.
I happened upon an older small brick home, one level with a detached garage that I also found on-line. I tried to visualize exactly where it was located. I knew by the address that it was a very nice neighborhood. This home also backed up to a cemetery. From the photos, I could see a structure or a statue behind the tall Poplars trees planted along the back border of the yard.
This house also had an enclosed screen porch.
The basement was finished in funky light paneling and very retro tile but...
I was kinda loving THAT.
Immediately I could imagine my dogs romping around in the basement. I could put a couple of big comfy sofas and TV down there. It showed a little paneled bar area. I could stock a refrig with beverages and put dog food under the bar. PERFECT.
I adored the idea of the possibility of not having all my life activity to be right when you walk in the front door like it is now.
Meaning, I could have the symbolic look of a neat tidy home and have the chaos of everyday life, out of the way - downstairs.
So one day while driving back from somewhere with my sister, I asked her to turn down a street as we came up the hill. I told her to take a right and she did.
"What are we looking at?" she asked.
I told her I had seen a house on-line. I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm kinda nuts since I have no cash to fund a move and my own house needs many things done before I could sell but that day she indulged me.
So, she took a right and then another and then a left.
"OH!" she said. "This is NICE, kinda tucked back away".
I told her "I KNOW! I'd be off a busy street!" I pointed up to the right and said to slow down.
"Hmm" she said. " the garage needs painting" and I replied that it was just one story and small. Small enough for me to paint myself.
She slowed to almost a stop, the car was just barely rolling. "What's back there behind it?"
I told her it was the cemetery. She laughed and said that al least those neighbors won't bother you.
We rolled by and I commented how the front and back yards were all level. "It would be so nice to just zip, zip a lawn-mover over that".
I told her there was a screened porch on the back and she said that sounded nice.
She looked back to the street as we were almost past and I leaned forward and looked at it from that angle.
Suddenly I sat back up straight and said "FORGET IT!"
She stopped the car and looked at me.
"Why?" she asked.
Then she leaned forward to see what I had seen. She looked at me and I looked at her and then we both laughed.
Only she and I would have understood why and it might seem morbid to others.
Then I said, "Yeah, I don't really want to go out to my back porch every morning and raise my cup of coffee and say
"Good Morning Mom! Morning Dad!"
The structure that stood behind the trees was the big mausoleum that our parents are entombed in.
Guess I should have used the Satellite feature on Google before getting all excited about that house.
So, could you live next to a cemetery?
I mean, if your deceased parents aren't almost in your backyard?

9 comments:

sassypackrat said...

Not a big fan of living next to a cemetery. Really wouldn't live next to where my parents were buried either, although it would be nice and quiet.

An Urban Cottage said...

I don't know. I would be a little weird.

But I do love that floor in the basement.

Nita Stacy said...

It would not bother me to live next to a cemetery. Probably because I come from a small town and the cemetery often has people wandering through it on a Sunday afternoon or really any afternoon. People go there to tend the graves and visit their loved ones. I would actually find it comforting to have my parents right out my back door.

Pamela said...

First time commenter, long time reader here. There is a 200 year old cemetery with almost 8000 graves behind the trees behind my home. When we first moved in, I was a little freaked out. Then I discovered that it is a very peaceful place to take my dogs walking. And the path isn't crowded like the trails in nearby parks! I still don't go walking at night though.

Anonymous said...

Yes I would, nothing scary about those at all. I lived very close to one when I grew up and I just loved walking around there hot summers :-)

Have a great day!
Christer.

yoborobo said...

Honestly, it wouldn't bother me because I don't think there is anything to fear from the dead, just the living. So I would worry more that it was a place that creepy living people hung out - lol! It would be weird to see funerals. A little sad.xox Pam

Mary Helen-Art Saves Lives said...

Sure...they are very quiet neighbors and would not complain about my art dye processes. Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

Cindi Myers said...

Pamela! Thanks so much for commenting! I went to your link to say Hi and Thanks,and I see that you are doing a job that I've thought about doing myself, just too scared to take the plunge! I don't know if you'll see this comment see I'm off to "like" you on Facebook!

denise said...

Hilarious!!

and yes, I could live next to a cemetery -- takes care of any neighbor issues.