Im a sucker for iconic locations with dark histories and Graceland is kinda up there with war bunkers and grassy knolls I reckon. It turns out the city of Memphis mandates that if more than one person is buried on private land its classified a public graveyard. Consequently the Presley estate is required to provide free daily access for an hour before they can kick you out and toss up a $35 paywall. I arrived at the 7:30am public access time expecting a mob scene and much to my surprise was greeted by a single lady waiting to be let in. She introduced herself as Patty and we both wandered up through the sprawling estate to arrive at Presleys grave. I guess Elvis fans must party hard these days because unbelievably we had the place to ourselves for an hour yesterday morning. We sat together and had a fantastic chat about her life and her love for the man buried 6 feet from us. Of course I had to ask how it all started and she responded with a gleam in her eye “When I was 9 years old my mother came home with a glossy picture of Elvis Presley. I was completely mesmerized by him” Over the next 54 years Patty has faced a number of significant challenges and the one constant thats guided her through it was this unrequited love of a man she never got to met. Three years ago Patty moved to Memphis and each morning, without fail, walks to Graceland and spends the full public access hour at his gravesite. All the staff know Patty on a first name basis and have gifted her the unofficial role of tending to Elvis flowers each day. Over the years shes toured his house 160 times, acquired encylopaedic knowledge on everything Elvis and hand writes letters to 48 different people shes met at the gravesite. After the hour was nearly up I commented on her two arm tattoos and how they were of quite disparate things. She rolled back her sleeve to show me her elvis tattoo and with a wry grin said “Oh I got drunk once and got them both done Patty then touched me on the wrist and looked me in the eye Clinton, I really love Elvis... and with a pause leaned toward me —so there was no chance of the dead king of rock and roll overhearing — pointed to the other tattoo and whispered but I prefer dragons
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 22:17:40 +0000
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