Your Preferred Tombstone :) (friends, cancer, dad, places)

[jackmccullough]

I really don't care what happens to my ashes after I'm dead, but my wife spent a lot of time when she was younger visiting the graves of her family, so it's important to her. We bought a plot in our local municipal cemetery probably twenty years ago or more, just big enough for our ashes,, so that's our likely destination. I don't have any illusions that our sons or other descendants will spend any time visiting our grave.

We have also spent some time talking about what might be inscribed on our stone, but nothing final yet. We've talked about a few words that express our values, like "Family, Education, Service" or something like that.

Curiously, even though we're both atheists, my wife is interested in having an angel sculpture on her grave. If she predeceases me I don't see that happening.

[Lodestar]

I've got my eye on a nicely shaped, eroded landscaping rock with lichens and moss on it. It's from the familiar rocks of our river valley. Would like to add it to our rock garden for the time being.

We have the phone number of the cemetery people and need to call and find out if they would permit a natural monument there.

Would like a simple bronze plaque with names and dates on it, either staked or fastened to the rock.

[Mightyqueen801]

Seriously, I would love to have a tree pod burial. The body is placed in a biodegradable burlap bag and a tree planted on top. The body feeds the tree for about 25 years.

I know there is a company in Italy that does this, but not sure if it is allowed anywhere in the States.

Still, one can have one's ashes buried beneath a tree, as well.

[pikabike]

If I have a headstone it might be like this one:

https://www.city-data.com/forum/atta...7589ac407.jpeg

[NoMansLands]

Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman's "Bucket List".
"shortly after being diagnosed with lung cancer the Nicholson character climbs Mt. Everest with Morgan's ashes (appropriately, in a Chock-full-o'-Nuts canister like the one Carter had used as an ashtray), and deposits them in a sort of chorten. We don't actually see Edward climb Mt. Everest, but it is strongly implied that Edward did so in order to help Carter polish off his bucket list "

Leaving a list of places I want my ashes scattered for my evil spawn to do. Not Everest, but maybe a bit in space?, Machu Picchu, a few local nostalgic locations, places I want her to visit without making the list so long she ignores it. I want her to see some things like Machu Picchu. A small amount of ashes hidden in her suitcase and dropped there out of her purse or shoe, like she got a shoe accidentally full of dirt. Still deciding on all the locations, maybe 6-7 in total, only a couple remote. I get to vicariously visit these places. Maybe she'll thank me that she went to these places. Hopefully I'll have enough money left over to pay for those trips!

[ShouldIMoveOrStayPut...?]

Originally Posted by eaton53

A simple obelisk just a hair taller than the Washington Monument will work for me.

Originally Posted by steiconi

Really don't care. I'll be dead and gone, do what you want with the empty husk.

I met a traveler from an antique land,
Who said - "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert...Near them, on the sand
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away"

Percy Bysshe Shelly

[marid4061]

I want to be cremated and my ashes to be put with a memorial tree. Either a crepe myrtle, dogwood, or magnolia tree. My children will not be fighting over who gets the tree. Lol.

[hunterseat]

As far as epitaphs, I was reading a book that described a tombstone. On it was written "Demure at last".

[mshultz]

Originally Posted by ShouldIMoveOrStayPut...?

I met a traveler from an antique land,
Who said - "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert...Near them, on the sand
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away"

Percy Bysshe Shelly

I'm not much into poetry, but that one made a strong impression on me when I first read it. Another poem that made a strong impression on me was Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson.

[EllieKay56]

My ashes will probably go next to my mom. She chose to be buried next to her parents here in WI. My dad chose to be buried next to his parents just outside of Chicago. My mom always said...until death do us part.
Anyway, my mom has a double plot so both my husband and I can have our ashes next to her.