Some people like to play an active role in planning for what happens when they pass away. No, not what will happen in terms of the afterlife, but what will happen during their funeral and where they'd like their final resting place. If this describes you, you might have already begun to make arrangements with a prepaid funeral plan, which covers costs. You might also be thinking about what kind of funeral you want. But what about your final resting place?

Your plans should include the kind of headstone you want.

Headstones

Cemetery monuments are traditionally headstones, but even though the design is simple enough, there are still many decisions to be made. Rather than leaving family and friends to ponder how best to remember you, why not make these decisions yourself? By choosing the specifics of your monument, you get to choose how people remember you.

Material

Firstly, you should choose the material for the memorial. Granite is a popular choice and with good reason. It's durable and weather-resistant without being the most expensive option. You could opt for a more upmarket material, such as quartz or bronze, if your budget allows. If you have a prepaid funeral plan, you might wish to check if it has any allowances for your cemetery monument.

Content

Once you decide upon a material, you need to choose the content that will be recorded on the monument. Yes, you might be a beloved wife and mother, but this isn't necessarily how you wish to be summed up. Some people prefer to keep it simple, with only their name along with the year of their birth and the year of their death. You even have the option of adding a photograph to a stone monument, which can be etched into the stone with a laser. If this appeals to you, you should choose the photograph yourself, giving you even more control over how you will be remembered.

Epitaph

This could be the extent of your planning unless you want to add an epitaph to your headstone. This could be a biblical verse, a humorous saying, or even a riddle. This might be the aspect of your headstone that you have the most trouble with since it can be difficult to choose a phrase or quote that sums you up as a person. However, an epitaph is entirely optional. 

Some might find it a bit macabre to plan their own farewell and final resting place, but since a headstone is intended to memorialise you, surely you should have some input into how you're memorialised.

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