My friend Ashley once said, "Headstones are a wonderful tribute, but what's even more wonderful is knowing the headstone isn't THE tribute. Our hearts are. I don't think there is a better gift, a more brilliant tribute, than a life led in goodness and joy."
She also gave me the idea to call the monument company and have them alert us when they were pouring Dex's stone so that we could come and place handprints in the wet cement. I love how it all turned out!
As expected, Crew's little monkey mitts were by far the most difficult to accomplish. We redid his contribution many times. We ended up with a hand-like print and a foot-ish print of his. The rest of us imprinted our hands, plus a special heart left from Mommy.
We had a very ironic and interesting learning experience with this part of the journey. They originally called us to do the imprinting as we were walking out the door to go to the Oquirrh Temple Open House. We had waited a long time for their call and I felt guilty and disloyal to Dex when I asked them to delay the pouring until the following week.
We toured the temple that morning as planned and I was reminded again that Dex himself is not in the cemetery. Dex was not waiting impatiently for us at the monument place. Do you remember how we were accidentally detoured during the tour? Let's just say that when the tour guide in the sealing room said "wow, what a wonderful privilege to be in the temple sealing room today, together with your whole family!" she had no idea how right she was.
The Lord's mercies are very tender indeed. My darling Dex continues to watch over us as we navigate the complicated mortal journey. I love him, I miss him when he isn't near, I appreciate all he does for us, and I'm so blessed to have him as a son.
1 comment:
That is beautiful.
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