A Sad or Happy Tale?

One of the stops along the way on my trip into the Mojave, was Daggett Pioneer Cemetery (flickr set at link). It's a sandy, rocky place. The decay may only be due to the harsh conditions, or might be due to neglect and even vandalism. There's no grass, no trees, no live flowers, just a few shrubs, a few fake flowers, a few American flags. But this cemetery is still serene, still holy, still a place of reverence.

There are old graves, the earliest death on a marker that was still legible was in the 1890s. There's new ones, too, even sites waiting for a husband or wife to join their beloved who preceded them. The graves whose markers are legible tell stories. You have families who've suffered losses, many men proud of their service to this country (mostly WWI and WWII), and lots of weather beaten crosses that bear no indication of who rests below.

These two markers seemed to have quite a bit to say.

Above you have Joseph L. Balderas, Jr., dead before his 32nd birthday. Not yet old, but not exactly young either. Still too young not to be around, you wonder what might have been the cause of a death at that age.

Then you look next to Joseph, and you see the grave of his mother Susie May, and you see that Joe L. is still alive, still waiting, "Until we meet again". Susie May died less than a year ago, and Joe, Jr., almost 20 years ago. I wouldn't be able to guess which Joe mourns for the most, though. But, despite this, I bet Joe is a happy man, a good man, a man you'd want as a neighbor and a friend. Joe, Jr. probably wasn't Susie and Joe's only child, hopefully he's their only child that preceded them in death. Joe probably has grandkids that keep him busy, and keep him wanting more days here.

That's a lot to infer from two grave markers, and I could be completely wrong, but it's certainly one of the many possibilities.