RE-MEMBERING
It’s really my favorite way to spell R-E-M-E-M-B-E-R!
In a self-published book that I co-wrote with Cynthia Morgan back in the late 90’s, “RE-MEMBER–A MEMORY BOOK,” it’s how I spelled it and I explained in the Forward that it’s RE because it is actually putting back together the Pieces of a Person’s life as they have fit themselves into the puzzles of our lives.
Do we ever RE-MEMBER enough?
Certainly not a funeral, or around a holiday table, or out back during a family reunion picnic. It’s true isn’t it? Anytime we come together to RE-MEMEMBER, it’s never long enough, which is most likely the reason we continue to come up with little personal ways of RE-MEMBERING that will continue to unfold meaning and significance for each of us.
Stones on a Grave.
I’ve seen this many times in many different cemeteries. But why? How is this RE-MEMBERING?
It’s NOT just a Jewish tradition. . .that’s what I originally thought. But for thousands of years people were buried in tombs and stones or rocks were used to keep people or animals out and in some cultures it was believed to keep people, or at least their Spirits IN.
In the Jewish tradition it’s very customary to place a stone or a pebble on the headstone to show that you have visited the grave and to indicate respect for the deceased.
Today, leaving a stone of RE-MEMBRANCE is looked on more of a way of continuing this tradition of commemoration. The more stones found at a grave, the more the deceased has been visited and RE-MEMBERED by others.
Symbolically, the stones can indicate a lot of things; that love and RE-MEMBRANCE are as strong and as lasting as a Rock. . .that as a Stone last forever, so too, does love. . .Hmmmmm, I kind of like that, You?
Well, however the custom came about, it’s still an awesome way to RE-MEMBER and respect those who have died, but not really left. Leaving a Stone or a pebble is a gesture of appreciation for the strong and lasting impression they have made on our lives. Not a bad way to RE-MEMBER at all, huh?
Maybe of Grave Interest isn’t HOW, WHERE, or WHEN we RE-MEMBER but THAT we RE-MEMBER and more, that one day we too, are RE-MEMBERED?
Now. . .(I’m very, very sorry…) but
THAT ROCKS!
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