A few weeks ago someone asked me why my daughters gravestone didn’t say beloved daughter, sister and maybe granddaughter. As many of the others did. 

I wasn’t going to answer but the question has been turning over and over In my mind. 

The truth is what you write on your loved ones stone is a personal preference,  but for us, we simply couldn’t get a stone big enough to define who Livvy was to everyone 

Besides being a daughter, Olivia was a beloved sister, she was also a granddaughter, a niece, a god daughter, a cousin and a dear friend. Livvy was also a pupil loved by her teachers.  A patient well cared for by her doctors she was all this and so much more. One neighbour told me that she was the smile that brightened his day. 

How could one stone hold all that she was, all that she is? 

Choosing a gravestone is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. You have limited space and a small amount of words to describe your loved one. How do you honour them in your words? So many times since the stone was laid I have questioned did we make the right choice, I think we did.

Still I don’t think the stone is all we have to remember or honour my sweet girl. 

Everything that we do is in hope to bring joy to her memory. The laughter we share together as a family, the arms that we open to others children. The friendships we make.

The stone is a place which marks the spot where her ashes lie.

Yet in my heart and in those who love her is the true inscription that honours my beautiful girl.