No Respect For The Dead

We buried my mother on January 28th.

This evening I went to the cemetery and saw my mother's grave. On Monday, I heard from my brother that the gravesite was a wreck, but I had to see for myself. This is what I saw.

See those wire things on the left? Flower stands, still there even though the wreaths have long since gone, stuck into my mother's and father's grave. See that slab of plywood under the mound of dirt? It's covering up my brother's grave. See that pile of dirt? Still there, after ten weeks. solidified mud with sticks and crap all over it. See that headstone just in front of the tree? 

My brother's headstone, still dislodged from his grave. See that other headstone, off to the right of the dirt pile?

My father's headstone. It belongs at the head of my mother's and father's shared grave, not way off to the side of a pile of dirt covering my brother's grave. It's been there for so long that it's sunk into the ground, thanks to two blizzards and several heavy rainstorms.

This is the way that Gate of Heaven cemetery treats the dead? This is what we get for our $1,904 fee, paid before the first clod of dirt was dug?

Shameful. Just shameful.

Believe me, the management of the cemetery has already heard from us. Believe me, they have not finished hearing from us. I don't care that there was a blizzard a week after the funeral; the gravesite should have been fixed no later than January 29.

They owe my mother and father and brother the respect due the dead; they owe us the respect due the living who have lost their mother and father and brother.

I am livid. I am beyond livid. Isn't it enough that we have to lose our mother, deal with her estate, sell her house -- now we have to chase down the fucking gravediggers and make sure they do the job we paid for?

I'm sorry, Momma. I'm so sorry.