Eleanor's official marker finally came in in December! The cemetery has been really understanding with us, and filled the attached bronze vase with a beautiful set of violet flowers, then exchanged it for a large Christmas tree, but now it's our turn to honor our little angel our way!
We had a fun discussion about what we would like to keep at El's grave. We thought about taking the vase off and putting an angel garden statue or heavy-duty animal in the space, but removing the vase doesn't actually seem like an option, after all. All of the graves here are flat with these vases, so you just see a field of flower plumes across the yards. Most of the flowers are fake, placed, then forgotten so there are pieces of disintegrating flower flowing in the wind and scattered across the grass constantly.
We did not want Eleanor's to get as unruly, but I can't guarantee I'll always have fresh flowers, or how long we'll live here to bring them. When we eventually leave, what could we put in place that wouldn't look so terrible in a few months?
The final (for now) answer came from something we already have in our house. I have had a vase from my mom for years that I've filled with beautiful glass flowers that I've collected from antique stores across the country (and packed and traveled with very carefully, I might add!) We decided the glass flowers from our own living room would be perfect for the grave marker-- permanent, beautiful, classy-- so us!
I ordered a set of replacement glass flowers for the vase, but we ended up using the ones I purchased for Eleanor, instead. Her vase is short, and we were worried that my longer-stemmed flowers would freeze and break more easily than the shorter-stemmed ones that we ordered.
Just to make sure you really appreciate the final product, let's go through the process of Eleanor's grave...
Blank plot (with straw) for months....
Temporary marker...
Permanent marker with hand-picked glass flowers + an LED light provided by Grammy!
Isn't it gorgeous?!?!?!?!?!?!
(P.S. Flowers for Algernon was one of my favorite books growing up.)
I think it is beautiful!!! What a relief knowing it is all in place for her :)
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful. I would have never thought to buy glass flowers.
ReplyDeleteI love that book. As soon as I read the title, I instantly thought of it.
ReplyDeleteIt is beautiful. You are beautiful and so is your story and your testimony.
Love it - they look great! What a good idea! I'm so curious to see how the glass flowers do through the winter.
ReplyDeletePS> I've never heard of that book. Should I find it at the library for Cat? Or is it for older kids?