Death and the cemetery usually give people a lot of negative thoughts and memories. There are so many cool-looking stones in cemeteries that I wanted to go ahead and design mine while I'm alive so I could enjoy it. Why not? Plus, if there is such a thing as an afterlife, I didn't want to be stuck looking down at a typo on a stone I had no say in.

Here's mine. It was just finished yesterday.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Interesting idea.
Wonder what it would cost to build a pyramid today?
My ego is slightly bigger than yours.
Can you give us the story to the images?

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Can you give us the story to the images?

I'm a pet rabbit aficionado, so I knew I wanted some reference to that on my stone. You've probably heard the term, "rainbow bridge" applied to pets, so I wanted to incorporate that element, too, plus my favorite flower is the tiger lily, and while you can't really tell in the black and white miniature of a tombstone, I know those are the flowers I like.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Ooooh-laa-laa - Halloween in August!!! Nicely done!!!

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Ooooh-laa-laa - Halloween in August!!! Nicely done!!!

Well I do like twilight-zoneish sort of stuff, and setting up my tombstone before I die kinda fits. ;~)

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

I'd rather write my own eulogy and obituary. Who knows what my nieces and nephews are planning to say upon my demise!!

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I'd rather write my own eulogy and obituary. Who knows what my nieces and nephews are planning to say upon my demise!!

Oh trust me, I already have that base covered, too. I'm a planner.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

So far I don't have one, nor a plot, not even for My Moms ashes, $1,500.00 max
for burial and the same amount for a Life Insurance Policy, a rule not changed
since 1972, totally obsolete too, but except for a few, no support for change...

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Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST

Can you give us the story to the images?

I'm a pet rabbit aficionado, so I knew I wanted some reference to that on my stone. You've probably heard the term, "rainbow bridge" applied to pets, so I wanted to incorporate that element, too, plus my favorite flower is the tiger lily, and while you can't really tell in the black and white miniature of a tombstone, I know those are the flowers I like.

I also intended for the sun on the horizon to be ambiguous. Is it setting or rising?

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

I also intended for the sun on the horizon to be ambiguous. Is it setting or rising?

I would say it's more likely to be rising, as many flowers are heliotropic and follow the sun, but four of the five shown are pointed in the opposite direction, where it would have set.

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Very nice Gordon. I'm a land owner myself. I have two plots I bought from my parents next to my Grandmother. My dad wanted to be cremated and his ashes spread. So we did that. My mom wants her ashes spread where we did my dads. So I bought the plots they had intended to use.
I don't want to be cremated. I was a firefighter for almost 20 years. That's not how I want to go out, Even if I'm dead.
As for the obituary. My Grandmother wrote her own. I think that's how it should be.

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[/quote]

Old James

I thought they were 'Sun Flowers' a-la a kind of Slaver
Sunflower that just noticed a visitor to the grave!

I am unable to teach the unworthy,
the uninspired, or the unwilling!

edit:
I hope never to see this in use in my life time...

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So, Gordon, is this just something you did on a computer, or did you have
someone - a headstone carver - actually design this for real? Do you intend
on adding the date of death? There doesn't seem to be room.

I like the idea and I love the design and symbolism. I'll probably end up
in a graveyard for military veterans, which means I'll have no say on what
my headstone looks like, except for whatever religious symbol I choose.
(I'm Christian but don't like the cross, so maybe nothing.)

I am designing a poster-sized collection of photos of myself that is
suitable for displaying at whatever memorial service there is for me. I
think the race to find photos to display like that is one that could be
avoided, especially since there isn't anyone I know of who has more photos
of me than I do. I will actually have it printed out as a poster and frame
it myself so it will be easily found when the time comes. Of course it may
be incomplete since one never knows when one will expire, and I'll have to
finish and print it eventually.

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~Sue~

So, Gordon, is this just something you did on a computer, or did you have
someone - a headstone carver - actually design this for real? Do you intend
on adding the date of death? There doesn't seem to be room.

Yes, this is the real deal. I started the design process 3 months ago with the cemetery, and they finally placed the finished product in the ground a few days ago. There's room below my birthday for my death date when that comes around.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Here's a rough draft the cemetery designer did for me after I told her what I wanted. It's on big tracing draft paper, so we had to tape it up against the cemetery office windows for me to take a picture:

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Nicely done, Gordon.

As an officer and Committee Chair for Visalia Avenue of Flags, I've seen a few markers done and placed before the owner occupied the parcel, but none quite so whimsical.

Were my remains not already arranged to be sent to Davy Jones' Locker via submarine, I might consider something similar, perhaps a seascape with a periscope peeking up out of the surf, or perhaps a submarine just beginning to dive......

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Donald
Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired

How about an image of a young sailor sitting on
a tropical island while being attended to by a comely
mermaid?
Etc, etc......

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One of my Shipmates has a tattoo of such a scene on his left bicep. Most people don't know it's there, but I've seen him with his shirt off. His wife claims she is the model - could well be true...

That might make for an interesting tombstone - one concept of paradise.

How about an image of a young sailor sitting on
a tropical island while being attended to by a comely
mermaid?
Etc, etc......

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Donald
Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired

Nicely done, Gordon.

As an officer and Committee Chair for Visalia Avenue of Flags, I've seen a few markers done and placed before the owner occupied the parcel, but none quite so whimsical.

Were my remains not already arranged to be sent to Davy Jones' Locker via submarine, I might consider something similar, perhaps a seascape with a periscope peeking up out of the surf, or perhaps a submarine just beginning to dive......

Thanks very much. My mother bought my plot(but not the monument) back when I graduated from U of L, in 1990, and I always had an idea in the back of my mind to go ahead and have the stone done prior to my death, but I didn't actually decide on a design until a few months ago. It's not unusual at all for a stone to be set when one spouse dies and the survivor leaves her own date of death open(as in my mother's case - my dad died in 1982, so she's sharing space with him on the same tombstone). When she dies, her date of death will be carved in at that time. In my case, since I have no plans to be married, I decided to make my stone singular. My mother was thinking ahead when she bought my plot, though, and there is room for a spouse for me. In the unlikely event that becomes the case, my wife can have a separate stone next to mine, or have her name and dates engraved on the back of mine.

Visiting the cemetery is not an unhappy thing for me. I've always found it interesting. Plus, now, I can visit me, too. ;~)

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Looks good Gordon. Seppe's dad has his stone ready, right by the side of his wife, who died one month after Seppe and Oonah did.

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