Wednesday, November 14, 2007

A Monumental Day

After I faxed the order to the monument company I went to my truck and cried.

I faxed the final order, after weeks of emails and calls back and forth trying to verify size and price. I talked to Bonnie, then Shanda, then Bonnie. In fact, Mama has two monuments. One was the result of the stone cutter or manufacturer or whatever the granite company is actually called getting in too big of a hurry to get it engraved. I had not given the final okay, the local monument company had not, and what I wanted was a drawing of what the lettering would look like, which I did finally get. It seemed too small; Bonnie said lower case letters would be too small. So I asked for all capitals after all, but we decided to leave a word out of the quotation (the word was, ironically monument). So they had it set and ready to go, and go they did, without the okay from us! No wonder Bonnie seemed surprised when, about a month ago, I asked about going to a different size so as not to crowd the lettering. I wonder if she knew then that the stone had been engraved? Well, it was neither of our faults. There wasn't but a four-inch difference in the width of the first one we looked at and the final one we decided on, but we wanted it to be right, to look nice, and to be a lasting memorial to Mama.

Greg W also called me and said he had in his very hand, the coroner's certificate for Mama. And now the funeral home can order the actual death certificates. And - the date was correct. If I had not asked Amy to help us by contacting Brett, I'm sure we'd still be waiting on these.

After the long wait for these two things that symbolize the finality of a life - a death certificate and a grave marker - we should actually have them in hand and in the cemetery soon. When I knew today that they would actually be forthcoming, it was a relief, but one I'd rather not have had to experience.

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