My Monument

How does the saying go? Oh yeah...no one gets out of this life alive.

The Colonel is a planner who comes from a family of planners (since joining the family, nearly 35 years ago, I have learned and appreciate the fine art of planning too).

Well, a few years ago, The Colonel and I purchased our burial plots (and yes, I have danced on my own plot). 

As you know, we have had to bury The Colonel's sister and parents in recent years and each one had their funeral/burial plans in order. Their pre-planning made it much easier on us and it ensured that they received the funeral/burial they wished for.  

We had the plots, now it was time to complete our pre-planning needs. 

The driving force to start the completion of our pre-planning needs was my desire, while still on this side of the grass, to see a headstone of my own design, sitting on my plot.

So, The Colonel and I made an appointment at a local funeral home. I had the sketches of my headstone in my hand when we met with Timothy, the advanced planning representative for the funeral home. He was very knowledgeable, professional and friendly (he gave us a top-notch tour of the establishment). Our initial visit was to get my stone order placed and we would make another visit to plan, finalize and purchase our funeral/burial wishes.

I looked through a granite company's catalog. I chose the color of my stone, a Celtic cross design and the lettering font (I also gave Timothy the bronze DAR plaque, more about that later). Now that Timothy had my choices (and plaque), he would be able to submit my design to the granite company in Georgia.

It took about four months and a couple of  design tweaks before my headstone was complete and ready for delivery.  

Timothy called me to let me know my headstone was ready to be placed on my plot. The placement was scheduled for the afternoon of February the 15th. The Colonel and I arrived at the cemetery a little early so that I could take a few photographs.

The base of my headstone was already in place and the headstone was dangling in heavy-duty straps from the tractor's bucket.

The cemetery workers arrived shortly after we did. They soon began the work of placing the headstone onto the base.

 

It did not take long to place my headstone. The workers had me walk around it and give my okay of the placement before they removed the straps. 

Seeing my self-designed headstone finally set on my burial plot was very satisfying to me (I have blurred out my name, birth date and birth location in some of the photos to maintain privacy). The photo below is of the front of my headstone. The Celtic birds (Yam helped to tweak my design via her computer) are a nod to my Irish ancestry and my nickname of Bird. The bronze plaque is the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) emblem. I became a DAR member in March of 2016. I found the plaque at an antique store in Mr. Dora, FL (it was on the ground, covered in dust and dirt). I knew when I found it, that I wanted to eventually have it placed on my headstone.

This is the back of my headstone.

My last name has been blurred out on the photo above but you can see the Celtic cross, again a nod to my ancestry and my Christian faith. I also have my DAR member number on the back.

Once the stone was set, Timothy arrived (he had been running late). He was just about as excited as I was. This was the first stone he helped to work on. He liked my stone and said he was proud to have helped work on it and will use it as an example, when showing others what kind of stones his funeral home can provide.

Below you can see my headstone as it sits on my plot. The empty space to the right is where The Colonel's military headstone will be placed. He is unable to pre-order his stone, as it will come via the Veteran's Administration and they do not give stones until the veteran's death has occurred. When planning my headstone, I had a black, granite vase made and justified the stone to the left side of the base so that the vase would eventually be between our two headstones. Yam and Spud could then put flowers in it for both of us. The Colonel and I came back later and cemented the vase to the base (I thought the cemetery workers would have done that but they did not).

Our plots are located in the newer section of the cemetery and currently my headstone sits all by itself. It looks kind of lonely but we have been seeing more and more burials making their way towards our plots.

 

I guess you could say this is another pandemic project finished. It feels good to have our final needs completed (I still owe Timothy an obit and photos for a video). 

The Colonel and I often have lunch in the cemetery and now we can have it next to my headstone.

I am crouching, not standing behind my headstone.