Wes-Tex Gravesite Care

I am happy to announce that I have started a new business.  Right now it is a part-time endeavor, but I believe that I have the drive to make this business into my primary source of employment and income in the next several months.  I am very excited and happy to tell you about my business.

First of all, the name of my business is Wes-Tex Gravesite Care.  That's right, as you might guess by the name, the mission of my business is to offer professional quality care for gravesites.  By the way, I am not sure gravesite is the way the word is properly spelled, because my spell check is going crazy as I write this; nonetheless I decided to make a compound word out of gravesite.  Then I used a play on my name and the fact that we are located in the western portion of the state.

Wes-Tex Gravesite Care is a unique business with a unique niche.  My mission of offering professional quality gravesite care is geared toward providing a service to those who need assistance in caring for their loved one's grave or other memorial site.  Why would someone need my service?  I have found that there are several reasons someone could use a gravesite care service.  Foremost, many people have spent years caring for a special person's gravesite, and now these people are less physically able than they were in the past.  For others, maybe time has become a factor, and they just are not as able to go out and check on their loved one's gravesite, allowing the gravesite to become overgrown with weeds and grass, or perhaps the opposite, maybe lush grass that once covered the grave has begun to die, leaving patches of bare dirt.  Finally, I have found that many persons live several hours away from their loved one's grave, possibly one or even several states away.  This situation means that relatives may be able to visit the gravesite only once per year, maybe not even that often.

Wes-Tex Gravesite Care will provide gravesite care and maintenance for those who find themselves unable to care for their loved one's gravesite for any of the above reasons, or any other.  I primarily serve the Midland-Odessa area, and the Permian Basin, of West Texas.  There are many cemeteries within an hour's drive of Midland, many more only another hour away.  I also make frequent trips to Central Texas, and could offer services there on a scheduled basis.

My interest in starting my business was sparked when I visited a historic cemetery in Stanton, TX, where a convent was located just before the turn of the Twentieth Century.  Stanton in that past era was known as Mariensfield, a German word for Field of Mary.  This cemetery is the final resting place of several Sisters from that convent, as well as for many pioneers of the expansion into West Texas.  There are many early ranchers and "cowboys" buried there, as well as several veterans from World War I.  Along with these historical graves, there are graves of World War II veterans, as well as veterans of later wars, right up to vets who lost their lives in recent battles in the Middle East.   And there are many current burials there as well.

As I strolled through this cemetery, I noticed that some graves were in excellent condition, the markers clean and easy to read.  Other graves were sunken, were bare of grass, were covered with leaves and debris, or were in need of having the headstone cleaned or repaired.  Some of the headstones, many dating back as far as the 1880's, were cracked or toppled, while others were broken and laying in pieces.  On some of the older stones, the inscriptions were nearly invisible or even seemingly obliterated.  As I looked at the varying states of neglect and deterioration of these gravesites, I realized that some of the relatives of those buried here might not be able to care for the graves, some relatives had themselves died in the intervening decades.  Other graves were recent, but still in need of care that the relatives apparently were unable to give.  And I felt the calling.  I could learn to provide these services, and could help show honor and respect for the resting place of those who had gone on to that Better Place.

Now, in the dawn of my endeavor, I believe that I have found a profession that I can build first into a part-time business, then, as I gain more clients, I fully believe that I will be able to eventually replace my current income with the earnings from this service.  I have worked for government agencies and corporations in the past, always earning money for someone else while never being paid what I thought my life energy was really worth.  So I see Wes-Tex Gravesite Care as both a source of self-employment and a means to provide service of a higher calling to those who may need my assistance.

If any of you know of anyone who may need my service, I would appreciate it if you mentioned my endeavor to them.  If you need my services yourself, I would be happy to speak with you.  If you are in the Gatesville area, I could even offer you my services there, as I frequently visit my mother and other relatives.  Most of all, I ask all of you to send me your positive thoughts and your prayers as I attempt to turn this dream into my next reality.

May God bless all of you,

And May God Bless America

A Dusty Spriral Notebook, or Happy New Year's Day - Feb. 4th

I did a terrible thing today. I found, buried between a couple of books I had not read lately, a spiral notebook that looked as if it had not been opened in months.  Upon closer inspection I found that the notebook heralded from the year 2015, and contained some personal goals I had written in July of the year.

I opened the notebook and began reading.  Like I said, the things I had written were NOT New Year's "resolutions," but were tangible things that were both helpful to me and within my grasp, things that I thought I could accomplish at least by the END of 2016, a full year and a half away.  These were simple things like daily prayer, daily writing, daily exercise, meditation, etc.  Yet in 2017 I find that I am lacking in all the listed areas.

Even though doing those little things every day did not seem like much to ask of myself, it is obvious looking back, that I did not put in what little personal effort it took to accomplish these goals.  Then I turned the page and found a yet another list of things to do, a program if you will, that I had come up with to see that I reached my goals.

The program had broken down all the goals into tasks, some daily, some weekly, and some longer term.  In any case, all the things I wanted to accomplish, all the changes I wanted to make, were all listed neatly in a 1-2-3 progression.  There were also short- and mid-term goals, and the steps to make those goals happen.

In fact, in July of 2015 I came across a book that struck a cord with me, and shortly after that, another.  I found a book called the Path of the Psychic Heart, and Millman's The Path of the Peaceful Warrior.  It was largely from these books and another small volume, simply called It Works, that I customized a program for myself made up of elements from all three works - a life-changing, even a life-SAVING plan.  I read over this plan again and again.  And then, it seems, I promptly put away my notebook, in which I had written my program.  I had some other books that I placed on a book shelf, and for safekeeping I put my spiral notebook between two of these books.  Then I promptly forgot where I placed it.

I worked my program for a month or two, really actually finding some degree of peace with my new program, but after a while the program just went away.  It was out of sight, out of mind.  After another few months, the program was forgotten.  A few months after that, I went to the doctor for my six months appointment, and found that I weighed about the same as I had six months earlier.  Weight was one of the primary things I wanted to change about myself.  But there were other goals that fell by the way as well.  No daily writing, infrequent blogging, little exercise, and definitely the Way of the Psychic Heart had become a just long and winding road that did not seem to lead anywhere.

So I found my notebook today, and reviewed the goals, the dreams, the program with the necessary steps, and I sat in in shock and awe at the opportunity I had missed, or at least had put on the back burner for nearly two years.  But I sat there just a little while, had a short pity "party" for me, myself, and I, then made a decision.  I would review all this material and re-read all three books.  I would get myself back on that path that had been so beneficial to me in the short time I actually followed the "program."

The goals in the plan are still the ones I want to achieve, and I know this time I will keep on top of my program since I know now where to find that dusty yellow notebook.  I punished myself a little, like I said, with that pity party, but then I resolved to put that behind me and get on with it.  I am happy with my decision and really happy that I decided to look at that battered spiral before I threw it away.  What a treasure I had actually found.  Not some old New Year's resolutions, but a map for a new life plan.

One more thing.  Maybe you yourself have "lost" your life's plan, or even your New Year's resolutions.  Maybe, like me, you had created a set of goals, affirmations, or even a "program" like I did, to keep you on track, and help you track your progress.  It is not too late to start again, to resolve again, to take aim again at those goals that are important, even life-changing.  No, it's not too late, but there is no better day than today, no better time than right now.  Don't procrastinate again, don't fall by the wayside again...and above all, don't hide that good-intentioned plan for your life.  Don't let it sit on a bookshelf gathering dust.  Put it into action now...right now!  February 4th is just as special as January 1st, if this is the day you decide to take that first step...again.  I would wish you luck.  Instead, I wish you determination and success.

May God bless you...

And May God Bless America