Andy's Headstone...

...was set on September 16. His birthday. Happy birthday Honey... :-(


I was able to order the headstone immediately if I wanted to since he was a military veteran, and all I had to pay for was the granite backing for the brass marker. However, I wanted to think about it at length. Even a military headstone allows you to put a brief statement, and I wanted it to be exactly right. After my work ended for the summer, I was able to think.

I took a couple of weeks to reflect. How could I sum up my feelings in 18 letters or less for somebody as special as Andy? Finally, it came to me what I wanted: "Always my hero." He was so brave in so many situations during his life, ending with the extreme dignity that he dealt with the suffering of his illness.

I ordered the stone on a hot afternoon in June. It had been four months since he left us, but it was almost as hard walking into the cemetery office as it was the day I chose his burial site. A load was lifted off my heart after the order was placed, however. And as I left, I found a brand new shiny penny on the ground next to my car. A 2002 penny. 2222's for me, a shred of comfort as I was leaving.The headstone was perfect. Even the staff at the cemetery said it was the prettiest military stone they had ever seen. It is a fitting tribute to a man of courage.

True, it is pretty. But now there it is, carved in stone. It is final.