| Question: Our
family has a small monument with very little room for memorialization. I wish we could
afford a large memorial, but our budget will not allow us to make that investment. I have
read your articles and I know memorialization is important to you, so what do we do? Answer: Thank you for writing the
Memorial Doctor. There are two things anyone can do to make a small memorial tell the life
story of someone. First, a porcelain photograph, flush-mounted with the face of the stone
is an excellent starting point. Most memorialists could tell you that much.
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The second point is to write
up your story, and then to allow our editors to polish your loved one’s life story.
You are perhaps familiar with the poem, “Footprints.” This poem states:
Footprints
One night a man had a dream. In it he was walking along a beach with the Lord. Across the
sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene he noticed two sets of footprints in the
sand, one belonging to him and the other to the Lord.
When the final scene of his life flashed
before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed many times along the
path of his life there was only one set of footprints, and he realized that they came at
the hardest and saddest times of his life.
Bothered about this, he questioned the Lord,
saying “Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all
the way. But I have noticed that during the most burdensome times in my life, there is
only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why when I needed you the most you
would leave me.”
The Lord replied, “My dear child, I
love you and I would never leave you. During the times of trial and suffering, when you
see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”
I recite this poem for one primary reason.
The title and all of this writing was placed on a 5 inches tall by 4 inches wide porcelain
with metal backing that is guaranteed to never fade. I count 196 words and 816 characters.
You can tell a lot of family history with 196 words and in a very small space. To carve
816 characters of ordinary size on a monument would cost a King’s ransom. I have just
provided you with a means to tell your story for less than $500.
There is little justification for not
telling a loved one’s story on a memorial. Hire the experts who design memorials for
a living, and you and your family will be glad you hired a memorialist instead of a
monument builder.
Click here to view our Memorial Accessories.
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