The Piqua Granite and Marble Co., Inc.
Since 1882
The Piqua Granite and Marble Co., Inc.Since 1882
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Good
Grief
The Value of Personalized Memorials (As was published in International Cemetery and Funeral Association) Grieving is an often misunderstood and neglected emotional process. As grievers, we undergo a conflicting mass of human emotion. As those who try to help comfort the grieving, we rarely feel comfortable that what we are able to offer is the "right" thing to say or do. The selection of a personalized, permanent memorial allows those who have lost a loved one to express their feelings in an intimate and loving way. No matter how those around us try to help us through our grief, we ultimately are responsible for our own healing. Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, in her work with dying patients, identified five stages of grief that define the path to acceptance: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. These stages do not necessarily occur in the same order for the bereaved as they do for the terminally ill, and the bargaining stage may be passed over entirely, but the steps to healing and acceptance are much the same. Open communication and personal expression often are cited as necessary steps to overcome depression and learn to accept loss. Memorialization as a form of meaningful and personal communication helps those who experience the death of a loved one fight through the final stages of the grieving process by providing a means to express deeply felt emotion and honor the deceased. Memorials are for the living. They provide a permanent place for those left behind to connect emotionally and spiritually with their loss. They provide an opportunity to honor and pay tribute to a person and make a statement about the impact the person has had on his or her family, community or even the world. To obtain the full benefit of memorialization as a healing influence and a personal expression of love and honor, purchasers need to be able to match colors, designs, expressions, lettering styles and other characteristics of memorials to their needs. Consequently, variety and customization in the memorialization industry are increasingly in demand. Memorial manufacturers have responded to this demand by introducing new products each year and offering better and easier ways of providing highly customized memorials for consumers. Granite proves a popular choice for any stone memorial application that comes into contact with the elements because of its beauty, durability, strength and carving characteristics. It allows memorialists to permanently record some of the most intricate and personal detail imaginable through modern techniques such as diamond etching, laser etching and photo-portraiture, which permits actual photographs of loved ones to be reproduced in the granite.
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