The blogging community is an interesting place. We make friends with people we have never met in real life, sharing stories that sometimes make us feel like we’re old friends. Many of them are people we would never cross paths with in real life.
That’s certainly the case with Jinjer. Honestly, I don’t recall how or when we met but I have followed along as she has spent recent years working remotely from Arkansas where she cared for her elderly mother.
I never knew her mom’s name but was terribly sad when she died earlier this year. Jinjer shared with her blogging pals that she wouldn’t be able to visit her mom’s grave in Indiana before heading back to the life that was waiting for her in California. Her plate was full closing up this chapter, packing, donating and selling things. She needed to orchestrate the cross country move with an elderly cat and there was no way to justify going that far out of her way.
So when she mentioned that her mom was buried in Marion, Indiana, I knew I could help. That’s because I had been thinking about a trip to that area and this provided a wonderful purpose for going. While I couldn’t help Jinjer get there, I could at least go and take pictures of the grave. It’s a small gesture but I thought it might help.
She’s buried at Marion National Cemetery and I went there late Saturday afternoon, not realizing how enormous it would be. Turns out, I went to the wrong section – I needed section CS and was in section C. The wind picked up, the temperature dropped and rain set in so I surrendered and went into town for Mexican.
Luckily, Jinjer had emailed me a map that day so I figured out my error and returned at sunrise on Sunday morning. It was a piece of cake to find my way around with the map but I would have spent the entire day looking if necessary. It was important to me because I know how hard it is to lose someone important and what it means to visit their grave.
So I knelt on the ground, introduced myself to Jinjer’s parents and told them why I had come. Sadly, you can’t leave flowers this time of year so I just placed the flowers for a few minutes and snapped some pictures for Jinjer.
Jinjer laughed when I said that I apologized to her mom for being unable to leave the flowers. Haha! “After all, I don’t make the rules,” I said.
It’s a tiny gesture but hopefully one that helped my friend. I’m so grateful that I found her mom and the weather cooperated so she could have pretty pictures.
Jinjer’s parents have a beautiful resting place. It’s awe inspiring to be surrounded by these elegant marble headstones as far as the eye can see and to think of all the people they represent.
We all deserve to be remembered after we are gone and the living we leave behind deserve to find peace.
Here are some immortal words from one of the world’s great thinkers, Winnie the Pooh……
If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart. I’ll stay there forever.
What a nice and loving gesture. I’m sure your friend appreciated it…and so did I.
Chris
Thanks Chris! When you think about all she has been through, it’s such a small thing but I was glad to help.
Yes I agree that the blogging community is an interesting place. I admired the way you extended a helping hand to a blogging friend.
I have made several friends this way and I’m so glad I met Jinjer!
What an amazing thing to do!! <3
If you consider all she has been through, it really isn’t that much but thank you!!
This was so heartwarming. We all need a reminder to just be kind. ❤️
I’m so glad this resonated with you. Thanks for reading!
What a kind and thoughtful thing to do. Cemeteries like that can be daunting, but those maps do sort everything out pretty quickly.
Yes they do! I was grateful for that little map. Although, I am glad I didn’t find it that first day because the sky was so much prettier for pictures the next morning. It all worked out for the best!
To you it was no big deal…a simple gesture. To me, it was everything. It was absolutely awful in 2011 when my mom and I couldn’t make it to Indiana when my dad was buried. It was even worse this past January when I couldn’t make it to Indiana when my mom was buried. It is beyond bizarre to have never seen your own parents graves. So, to have someone I only know via the internet take the time to go there…TWICE, and to place flowers and send me pictures is something I’ll never forget. Thank you is not enough yet I don’t know what else I could do or say.
I hope to be able to visit my parents grave sometime in the future, but until then, I will treasure these photos.
And yes I think it is hilarious that you told my mom that bit about how you were sorry to take away the flowers you brought for her but you don’t make the rules.
And just in case any of your readers don’t know, a “National Cemetery” is for war veterans. My dad was a paratrooper in WWII so he could be buried, at no cost, in any National Cemetery of his choosing. He was from Indiana so that’s why he picked Marion. Mom, as his spouse, was also buried at no cost.
Thanks again, Brandi! Having these pictures really means the world to me and brought a little bit of closure. Not that you ever have closure after someone dies, but you know what I mean.
I hope you do make it there someday. It’s such a beautiful place and it may help you heal.
Honestly, I am glad I screwed it up that first day because the sky was really yucky for pictures. The next morning was much prettier so it worked out for the best.
I knew as I said it that anyone listening would think I was nuts. But I just knelt there and had a conversation with them like we were all sitting in there living room. Lol. It just seemed rude to take the flowers and leave without explanation!
And thank you for explaining the premise behind a national cemetery. I saw that your dad had a Purple Heart and wondered how he received that.
Jinjer, thanks for letting me be your crazy internet friend! It was my pleasure and my honor to help.
My dad got his Purple Heart when he was shot during the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes in 1944 at age 19.
Still a kid. I’m grateful for his service.
Jinjer … Hello. Jerry Thompson here; I’m a friend of Brandi’s. I’ve been aware of her kindness, compassion, and awareness for quite a while. She’s a wonderful person. I’m also a student of “The Ardennes Offensive” (Battle of the Bulge). Unless you have different information, your father was in the 101st Airborne Division (the immortal “Screaming Eagles.”) They were the absolute elite troops in the European Theater. Your father, a 19-year-old “kid” was, no matter what HE ever said about what he did – or did not do, no matter the standard comments about the “heroes were the guys who didn’t come back,” WAS a hero, a man who LITERALLY helped save the world from unspeakable evil. The veterans of World War ll, every man and women of them, are, and always be, a national treasure. God bless the living among them, and may those who have passed on rest forever in Paradise.
Jerry, this is beautiful. And so true. Heroes, every one.
Hello Jerry! Nice to meet you!
I had to pull up my dad’s WWII notes. This is the only info I have from him on that battle:
On 16 December 1944 – 82nd Airborne – 509th Parachute Battalion – Ardennes Forest – Battle of the Bulge –
St. Vith, Belgium.
If you have any info on the 82nd or 509th, please let me know!
Thanks for all your kind words about my daddy. 🙂
Nobility becomes you, Brandi Betts.
You make me blush!
Thanks for the point out on the grave, etc.
You’re welcome!
PS: When was her Mom in the military? What branch?
Hey Jerry, see Jinjer’s comment just above yours. She explains the situation. Her dad was actually in the military and so her mom was able to be buried here with him.
What a sweet and thoughtful thing to do for your friend. I’m sure this small gesture had a huge impact.
I think it did and it was such an easy way to make a difference. Glad I could help!