I enjoy headstone hunting for several reasons:
- It is a bit of a treasure hunt – I always feel great when I find an old headstone marking an ancestor’s gravesite.
- It is esthetically pleasing – most of the old cemeteries are quite scenic.
- It is free.
Well, almost free. As I discovered a couple of weeks ago, there is a hidden cost to headstone hunting.
On a sunny day I wear my sunglasses which are just clip-ons for my prescription glasses. When I need to look closely at a headstone I take them off and hang them in the collar of my shirt. They are pretty secure there and if for some reason they slip out, I feel and/or hear them fall.
So I spent about 90 minutes at the Highland Cemetery in Ipswich recently. And while the day was sunny the cemetery was mostly shaded. I took my glasses off at the start and didn’t put them on until I had finished walking the cemetery, which covered over an acre. Or, more to the point, I tried to put them on but they weren’t there. I had lost my glasses somewhere in the acre of headstones.
I spent an additional 30 minutes retracing my route, carefully scanning the grass. Nothing.
The cost of replacing the glasses: about $400.
I will henceforth leave the glasses in the truck and use cheap non-prescription sunglasses if it is sunny.
Some lessons are learned the hard way.