Footprints in Stone

In January of 2012 we decided it was time to start the process of creating a memorial for Katya and Ruby.  We searched a few headstone places even all the way to Ogden, UT. We found a variety of prices, designs and expertise.  

We decided we wanted something that was ruby color so we focused on redish granites.  We found that the most affordable and experienced person was a man in Murray. We talked to him and agreed that we will come up with a design and present it to him. We wanted the design to be personal as opposed to picking a generic image from his collection.  Particularly we wanted to imprint on the stone the shape of our girls’ footprints.  He assured us that such thing was possible and that once he received the design it would take a couple of months.  He promised that he would get it done by Memorial Day.

Tonio had the idea of using one of our pictures where our two hands are holding Katya and Ruby’s feet.  He drew several drafts and finally came up with a great drawing.  Due to his intense master’s program, we were unable to get back to the headstone place before March.  We showed the designed that Tonio created and the owner assured that it was doable. We finished designing the rest of the headstone together with him so he could import it into his program and make the necessary adjustments to ensure that the design could be engraved in stone. He promised that he would have a draft within two weeks for our approval.

Three weeks later, we finally heard back from the headstone company and set a time to meet and review the template.  We met with the engraver the following day and were pleased with the design.  We had to make some corrections (such as changing their birth year from 2001 to 2011). We wish we would have had our girls for ten years instead of ten days.

At the end of our meeting, the headstone person said: “Well, give me a call either June or July to approve the final design and start carving the stone”.  We were not sure whether we had heard him correctly.  We mentioned that his original agreement was to finish the stone by Memorial Day.  He said that he was not sure whether he had a stone in stock because he had just sold our stone to another couple who came after we did. As you can imagined, we were not pleased to hear that, particularly because we knew that the stone had to be imported from India and it would take a long time. Given that we are planning on leaving the area in July, we wanted to be here when the headstone was placed. 

Tonio expressed his disapproval of this unprofessional behavior. The man tried to justify himself saying that he could control the supply of stones to which Tonio said that such an excuse was inappropriate because he had control over the stone he had just sold that was for us. Tonio then asked the man whether he had ever lost any children to which he said he had not. Tonio said that it is not a pleasant experience to shop for a headstone and having this unprofessionalism on his part was not making our experience any easier. The man apologized and said that he would contact his brother to try to locate another stone.  He said that if he could not locate the stone within that weekend, he would refund us our money completely. We left hoping that things would work out.  We were not happy with the idea of starting over to shop for another headstone. It was nice that that evening we went to the temple.

A couple of days later the monument company owner called and said that he had a stone.  He would have to cut a larger stone down to fit the size of our headstone.  He also said that we would get it by Memorial Day.  That day Katrina went to approve the final designed and talked to a lady who said that she would nag the owner to make sure he would get it on time.  At least someone in the office was sympathetic and understanding. 

A month later we received a call that the stone was completed and on its way to the cemetery. A few days later we made our way to the cemetery and saw it for the first time.  We were really pleased with the job done despite the long road to get there.  We are grateful that the owner of the monument place was able to get this work done on time so we can enjoy visiting our girls during our remaining time in Utah. We want to extend special thanks to each one of you who have supported us during this tying time. This headstone was possible through the generous donations of many of you. Thank you.

The footprints on the corners are traced from the actual footprints of each of our girls.  As usual, Ruby being the feisty one, had to have her name moved a little to the left so it could fit. She is always pushing her sister around. 

A funny fact is that the cemetery where they are is located on a street named College.  I guess that we will always say that our girls are away at College.