The Writing and Photography Blog of Kevin J Sabo

I’m on a whirlwind trip to Saskatchewan.

Travelling out here on Monday, I’m here to drive Lynn’s mom to a couple of appointments in Regina today, before I head home on Friday.

Yesterday was a pretty low-key day, covering a council meeting remotely…or at least trying to. I was having some tech issues yesterday morning which were not helpful. On the plus side, it was a pretty light meeting, and I was able to get the information I need for my story by email after the fact.

In the afternoon, Lynn’s mom and I joined a couple of friends for coffee -Saskatchewan’s restrictions are currently less restrictive that Alberta- and otherwise just took it easy for the rest of the day. I tried to do some writing, but it just wasn’t flowing for some reason. Oh well, it happens.

Last night after supper, we drove out to the cemetery. Lynn’s mom wanted to drop off new flowers at her parents, her husband’s, and Brenda’s graves. It was my first out to Brenda’s grave since they added the name plaque to the tombstone. I really like how they designed it. It’s very fitting.

After we dropped off the flowers, Lynn’s mom commented in passing about the old City of Melville cemetery north of town, where she also has relatives buried. She said she wasn’t sure how to get out there again, but I suggested we take a drive and see if we can find it. The weather, while cool, was absolutely beautiful.

We managed to find the old cemetery in short order, and took a walk around. As morbid as it sounds, I find cemeteries peaceful, and awe-inspiring. Especially the old ones. Looking at some of the grave markers in the old cemetery, it was hard not to be awed, with some of the birth dates reaching all the way back to the early 19th century. Walking among the grave markers, I was walking amongst some of the earliest Canadians, the ones who came to Canada searching for a better life, leaving all they knew behind. The earliest burials I could make out in the cemetery occurred in the later half of the 1800s, and seemed to carry on to the mid-1900s.

There is just something about walking through that history that inspires awe. It’s this feeling of awe that is the reason I chose to minor in history as part of my schooling. As dry as the subject can be, it is interesting, and fills one with wonder.

Another reason I love history is because it gives us a basis for the future.

Winston Churchill is attributed as having said that “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Looking at what is happening in the world today, it is hard not to see parallels to the past. Despite the parallels, the resolution of the events from the past help give me hope for our future.

Kevin