I Suck At Headstones

yesterday, karen and i went to finally get a headstone for our son (braden). it's definitely a weird feeling to not only choose something to mark the resting place of your own son, but also choose something to mark the final resting place of yourself and your spouse. making plans for my son's demise, or karen's demise, or even my demise was not something that i had expected to do at this age. thus, i suck at headstones.

when braden passed away, the funeral service (keonhane's) that we used had recommended a place for headstones. the place was called quincy memorials which is located in quincy on williard street. keohane's had said that everyone whom they had referred to quincy memorials never had a problem with them. so, i contacted quincy memorials to make an appointment to discuss headstones for braden. as it turned out, karen and i did not have to make any appointments. all we had to do was show up at their office.

as usual, when it comes to braden, things never really seem to go according to plan. karen and i arrived at the office bright and early when the office was supposed to be open. and we waited... and we waited... we even walked around the office to look at headstones outside.

eventually (over half an hour later), an associate (jeff) from quincy memorials finally showed up. he apologized because he had to wait for "joe plumber" to arrive... man that joe plumber gets around. if joe plumber weren't busy on the obama/mccain political tour, he could have showed up at jeff's place on time and therefore not have delayed karen and i. just kidding.

i actually did not mind waiting for jeff. i would much rather have jeff have heat (the plumbing was connected to the heating) because it was a little chilly yesterday. plus, the delay gave me more time to think about the headstone for braden. like any parent, i want the best for my son... and in this case, i wanted braden's marker to look nice and represent him well.

karen and i decided upon a flat marker for braden made from black granite. the marker would contain the standard information of braden's name, the date of his birth, and the date of his passing. karen and i also included an epitaph on the marker, saying "our son, little b". as well, there would be a picture of winnie the pooh engraved along the border around his information.

had braden survived, karen and i were going to decorate his room with a winnie the pooh theme. unfortunately, we never got around to it with his premature birth. so the least we could do is decorate his flat marker the way we would have decorated his room... with winnie the pooh. the picture on his flat marker is of winnie the pooh holding three balloons as he flies away. aside from the fact that it was winnie the pooh, both karen and i thought the picture would be nice because... like the three balloons... there would be the three of us... and with pooh flying away, it would be like braden is ascending to the clouds where he is finally resting.

as strange as this sounds, i am quite excited to see what the finished product will look like and have it installed at the cemetery. quincy memorials estimates that the marker will probably be done near the end of the year.

as for karen and i, we both got a headstone that simply says our last name on it. like the flat marker for braden, the family headstone will be made of black granite. there will simply be a border around the name... nothing fancy. that headstone... i'm not too excited to see. both karen and i will get individualized flat markers too, but i am hoping that someone else can plan that part for us.