Memorial

[Rose138]

Hello all,

My mother in law sadly passed away before having the chance to meet our first son, who is now 10 weeks old. This is obviously very upsetting for myself and of course my husband. Struggling with the loss of his mum and knowing she will never meet our son and any more children we have in the future. Our 8 nieces and nephews have very fond memories of their nan and our son will unfortunately not know her.

She has a headstone and I would quite like to put something special and personalised on it from my son. But I'm not sure what. A message stone? That's all I've come up with at the moment. I would be very grateful for any of your ideas. Thank you very much.xxx

Do you mean an inscription on her headstone? Will this be OK with your DH's siblings as their children were her DGCs too?

When one of dp's relatives died without ever meeting my dcs (they lived abroad), we all went to a church, lit a candle, and told the dcs (3 months, and 3) all about her. We prayed and sat in silence (well, some of us...!) thinking about her.
Maybe you could make a memorial to MIL for your son for when he's older - print out some lovely photos of her and the family, write down what she was like, some happy/funny stories, so that when he asks about her in the future you can show it to him.
A little stone's a nice idea, if there's space for bits and bobs around the headstone, but I guess it must be hard to find words - how about something like a little heart shaped stone with his tiny handprint on?

I love the stone handprint idea thank you! As all of the grandchildren have made or written something that is around her headstone.
I also love the idea of the memories keepsake for our son too. Thank you! Xxx

Unless the headstone mentions all the other DGC individually by name it would be odd and maybe offend the others.
How about making an album or photo book for your son so you can talk to him about her when he's older? My 4 yr old chats away happily about Great Granny who died when he was tiny and who he never got chance to meet, but who he recognises from our family photographs.
If there is any money left in the will, how about using some of it to buy something for him that will last his childhood? GG left our boys some money, most of which went into savings but we bought them a wooden playhouse which has a sign on the door saying 'Great-Granny's little house' and they mention often that she bought it for them.

Sorry x posted. Have a look at a company called Letterfest who make lovely engraved pebbles.