the F R I E D H O F

Just as there is a Main Street in every US town, there are specific streets here that you find in every single village.

The Hauptstrasse is the main street through every village. Haupt is literally translated as head. Wald means forest- so that street is up by the woods.

There is usually the Schulstrasse- or the street where the school is located. The big B- looking letter actually makes the sound of "ss". We're lucky enough in our village to have a Marktstrasse- or the street where you'll find our little market. Easy enough, right?

This country isn't complicated, is it?

Well, we live on Friedhofstrasse. The Friedhof is the cemetary, found just up from our house.
My mom really enjoys cemetaries- always has. I won't say I love them and I definitely don't hate them. I just haven't spent much time in them.

Before winter hit, our adopted Oma across the street was just coming back from the Friedhof.

She let me know her parents were buried there.

Of course they were.

Families don't move here like they do in much of the United States. She lives in the same house they did.

Tears fell down her cheeks while talking to me about her parents. In her mixed German and English, sometimes it is hard to understand all of what she's saying. I get the bulk of it.

I asked her if I could go up with her so she could show me around the cemetary. She said once it was Spring, we would go.

While walking this week, I took a little more time to look over the fence {dogs aren't allowed in and I had Ladybug} catching my curiosity.

Some dates are recent. I'm sure others are super old. The names- so German. Duh.

I love these planter/stones that are common here. A built-in pot for planting, or some have a cut-out space for plants and flowers to be planted. They're mini gardens. I've never seen anything like it before.

Then again, I haven't been through that many cemetaries.

How practical. Beautiful. It's that recurring simple-beauty theme that continues to show itself almost daily.

So many already had fresh flowers already planted. Without question- they're spotless, cleaner even than my kitchen floor. Not a spot. How do they do it? I really need to learn.