Life in the Garden

Matters of Life and Death

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Memorial Service Idea at the Cemetery

irish claddagh

One of our clients traveled from Missouri to New Mexico to inter her brother who passed away last year. She’s from a big Irish family, 10 kids in all, and they coordinated a memorial service to be held over the long holiday weekend. He had been cremated and they planned to place his ashes in a niche at the cemetery in a wood urn.

Irish celtic tree of life wood urn for adult, made in USA

cremation boxes and containers

Her brother was a poet, an earthy guy who liked to draw pictures of trees. At the memorial service they set up a small table and displayed his poetry, drawings, memorial cards, and an arrangement of a tree and potted shamrocks. A very simple service, a friend read a poem, family said a few words, they dismissed for lunch.

A memorial service can always be held at a later date and does not have to be an elaborate affair.

memorial service ideas

Other memorial service ideas we’ve discussed include:

Floral Wreaths for Cremation Urns

Discount Cremation Urns

What Not to Wear to a Memorial Service

Ashes in the Ink

Down But Not Out in Joplin, MO

antique post card memorial day

The bad news is Mother Nature threw down one of the deadliest tornadoes in history and blew the doors off in Joplin, Mo and the death toll is climbing. The good news is the list of missing persons is shrinking.  However, people with unaccounted family members are frustrated by the fact that the morgue will not allow access until the dead are positively identified and not released to the wrong families. A lengthy id process is in place which includes pictures, x-rays, and DNA samples all matched against the missing person’s list even before the family is notified.  This is in order to avoid a mix up at the funeral home, which reportedly has already happened.

One family searched frantically for days for their missing 16 month old toddler.  He was discovered in the morgue, where he’d laid since Sunday night.

Purple Iris Urns

Purple Iris is popping here and we’ve chronicled our love hate relationship with the Iris. In fact, I’m ready to dig em up and pitch them…until I see the beauty that unfolds every spring. Irises come in a rainbow of colors, the most popular being the deep blue or purple variety. Their primary meanings include faith, hope, wisdom, courage, and admiration. Iris represents the February birth month and is the flower of our 13th state, Tennessee, and the Fleur-de-lis is the emblem for the city of New Orleans. The Iris flower dates back to Ancient Greek mythology when the Greek goddess Iris, who was a messenger of the gods and was the personification of the rainbow. Iris was the link between heaven and earth.

rainbow goddess Iris

Purple irises were planted over the graves of women to summon the Goddess to guide the dead in their journey. Ancient Egyptian kings marveled in the iris’s exotic nature, and drawings have been found of the flower in a number of Egyptian palaces.

purple cremation urns for ashess

Urn Garden carries memorial urns that feature the beauty of the purple iris. Here it is as a cloisonne cremation urn.

Cloisonne Urn for ashes

Both urns are a purple and ivory combination, very soft and pretty for both male or female. I was surprised once when a lady shopping for a purple urn told me it was her son’s favorite color. She chose this Purple Iris Flower Garden Keepsake Urn to use as a container to hold a portion of the ashes reserved from a scattering of ashes ceremony.

cremation urns

Memorial Tattoos As An Art Form

vintage forget me not postcard

Ink has become so mainstream that now it seems that if you don’t have a tat, you’re in the minority. One trend we’ve seen is the memorial tattoo. So many personal styles, we like to collect them as an art form.

A couple of local examples:

My nephew got one to honor the grandmother who payed for piano and guitar lessons. The music has stayed with him his entire life and he wanted to honor her legacy.

Memorial Tattoo

vials for ashes

My tree trimmer who got a tree of life inked to remember his brother who was also a tree trimmer, they worked together as a team for many years. His brother has been gone a long time, this tattoo was done shortly after his passing and needs to be touched up according to the owner.

faded memorial tattoo

And full-on canvas covering back piece to as a Vietnam war memorial:

memorial tattoo, full back tat

In Ohio, Travis Green wears a vial of his father’s ashes. Literally! In addition to the container that Travis wears around his neck, Travis got a memorial tattoo with his father’s ashes in the ink. Father and son had discussed this before his father’s death.

Whatever you decide on, remember this:  It’s a commitment.

bad tats, bad memorial tattoo

Here’s The Thing About Cremation Jewelry

Cremation jewelry is not for everyone. It’s such a personal choice that you either love the idea, or….not so much. Not everyone is comfortable with the idea of wearing their loved ones ashes, even a trace amount, around their neck. Keeping it close to the heart? Not going to happen. The idea of splitting up the ashes, sharing them, scattering them is unthinkable and in a way, a desecration the body. The Catholic church thinks so, even though cremation is allowed.

Then there are families who cherish the idea of remembrance jewelry and keepsake urns will order several pieces for family members. While planning a memorial service, one East Coast family invited not only family, but many of the daughters’ friends to order jewelry urn pendants if they wanted some of her ashes.

dogwood flower urn jewelry

Cremation Pendants have to be worn with care and certain skin types may not agree with the metals. It’s NOT a good idea to wear your urn necklace to the gym, like one lady did, and then was upset because she lost it.

With so many choices of urn pendants available, if the family likes the idea of creating a memorial with jewelry then why not? The pendant styles are attractive and discreet, so if you don’t want anyone to know, you’re good to go.

We’re still in love with the dogwood urn pendant, so pretty and perfect for this time of year.

cremation jewelry