According to Wikipedia, an epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that is inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively.
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I’m in the process of helping my mom write an epitaph for my Abuelita who passed over two years ago. Time flies.
Here are a few challenges I’m facing:
- Working with my mother. This is a given if you know anything about me. She’s driving me nuts!
- Deciding on the very best thing to write, something that would make my Abuelita proud. I’m sure she’d appreciate anything since she was always a simple woman who enjoyed the simple things in life. She was very religious and all about family, but you don’t write that on an epitaph, do you? I mean, it’s not like Abuelita doesn’t conjure up some inspiring phrases….we just don’t know which ones to use!
- Writing it in Spanish! This is where I wish I could remember how to speak Spanish! It would have served me well to keep practicing. With 14 years of living with my Abuelita and 3 years of Spanish education, you’d think I’d be fluent! Sadly, that’s not the case!
All this talk about epitaphs got me thinking about what to write on my own epitaph? Should I write my own and stick it in my will so my family doesn’t have to sit around and figure out what to say about me in 140 characters or less? Come to think about it, an epitaph is much like a tweet, right? I’ve been reminded lately about how much more difficult it is to write less…since less is more!
I vaguely remember one of my youth pastors giving a sermon about epitaphs. You know that dash between the year you were born and the year you died? What does that represent, actually what will that represent once you are gone? Something to think about…better start making your bucket list! I don’t care how old you are…go out and LIVE!
Believe it or not, I did a Google image search on epitaphs…here are a few uncommon ones I came across:
Found on Chimera
Found on Greenlee Gazette
Found on Might Lists
I’ve come to the conclusion that I would like my family to write my epitaph. I’ll leave some fun ideas in my will, but I think it would be a good grieving activity. It would force them to think more about me, and how I touched their lives, or not. It will be the final test, so to speak, LOL!
Leave a comment and tell us what your epitaph will say? Or, what you hope it will say? I’d love to know, you just might inspire me! I’ll be sure to share the final product for Abuelita’s tomb stone once it’s been decided! Thanks for reading!
Opening Photo Credits: Bring the Hope