A Visit To The National Cemetery

I lift up mine eyes unto the hills.

Dallas Baptist University Campus on the south side of the cemetery,

It has been a while since I have been out to the Dallas Ft Worth National Cemetery. I made the trip this past weekend. It always gives pause and is a place to renew thought. You might say that it is a catharsis of one's soul.

Before starting the trip, early Sunday morning, loading up the car and talking out the garbage, the day got off to a surprising and inspiring start. There were two red tail hawks on the back fence. It was a signal of how the day was going to unfold and I could feel the rush of excitement almost from the very sighting.

My departures are almost like a plane being tugged out away from the gate; that controlled taxi  out to the runway;getting clearance to take off. Then, as you build speed, you are waiting for that first feel of  free flight as the laws of physics lifts the impossible into the air. In other words, it's a slow process getting into the air. My driving is like that. I have no need to rush to the next stop light and wait for the ones that I just passed to pull up along side at the light. I would rather just pace my speed and keep an even flow in my driving.

When I finally turn onto Mountain Creek Parkway and start the curve around Mountain Creek Lake, it's like a peaceful mist falls over me as I near the entrance to the cemetery. The cemetery sits on an escarpment that rises above the parkway. Dallas Baptist University Campus is on the south side of the cemetery and across the lake just off I-30 sits the unmissable  AT&T Stadium of the Dallas Cowboys.

Still, to go there and walk among the rows of tombstones brings a clean and refreshed view of though and understanding about life and humanity. To me, it's always been a way to clear out the thought process making room for a higher level of understanding in the meanwhile.

Trying to hide behind the pole in the center, sits AT&T Stadium in Arlington across Mountain Creek Parkway and Lake in the distance.

On my drive down the main causeway from the front gate the second wonder of the day  happened when a real life road runner  raced up the hill chasing a lizard. Meep Meep and all echoed in the quiet of the morning. Around the bend was the most red cardinal that I have ever seen. The bird was stunning. A bunny sitting in the shade of a tree was on the next section and a very docile Scissors-tail fly catcher set on a section marker posing for the camera. He even moved his mouth. Opening and closing, turning front to back. So, the early morning forecast of an unusual day began with the pair of red tailed hawks on my back fence, ushering in anticipation;long before I arrived at the cemetery. It could not have been a more perfect day spiritually.