Gravestones

Just an aside, we discovered during our little foray into the cemeteries that some materials used for grave markers just DO NOT stand the test of time. The elements will erase them in just a generation or 2. That being said I CAN NOT REMEMBER which ones were the bad ones! So, when in the course of human events you find it necessary to pick out a headstone for your loved one go to the cemetary first and talk to the caretakers ask them which material, marble, granite, concrete, metal, whatever is going to stand the test of time and the hazzards of mother nature. Or go find the oldest still legible stone in the cemetary and find out what it's made of. And even if it's more expensive get the good one. Someday your posterity is going to be looking for you and yours in that cemetary and are going to be heartbroken that they can't find you because the words on the stone are washed away. Oh, and another thing, they carve them to different depths, make sure they carve the letters deep, that makes them last longer as well. I know many people don't do the cemetary thing, my aunt is one. That's ok! You have to let people be who they are, but I, on the other hand and my mom as well, feel a kinship with our ancestors when we visit their graves. A connection, a bond. Oh, I know that body is just a shell to house their spirit and that their spirit is soaring all over the place! But the last tangible part of their physical being is just a few feet away and that comforts me. I like kneeling down at someones grave, cleaning their stone and talking to them. There is a peaceful communion in those moments. I need that.