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Flag Cases for Americans

August 31, 2012 urngarden.com

It’s an election year and in addition to the hot air blowing, there’s lots of flag waving going on. The greatest generation is passing and the last couple of years we’re serving families that are losing loved ones in Afghanistan, the armpit of the world.

For the families that want to preserve the flag that they receive at the memorial service and maybe display medals or other memorabilia the Presidential Flag Case is an impressive three piece set designed for families that have chosen cremation. Crafted from solid walnut or cherry woods, this collection is intended for display, but could be used for burial as well as the base is an urn for ashes.

The reality is that you can go to your local hobby store or discount chain and find an inexpensive flag case. Look at the quality. Turn it over and note the made in China sticker. If this doesn’t matter to you, then buy it. If you prefer solid wood construction, secure storage for flag preservation and American made goods for your veteran then check out our line of flag cases. You will pay more but consider it an investment in your country.

When he was home, he liked being here. But the last time, he told his dad that he should go back early because he wanted to take care of the soldiers in his unit. He wanted to teach them. He wanted them to grow as he had grown. — Soon Lim, mother of Daniel Lim.

Lim was one of four soldiers killed July 24, 2011 at Qalat, Afghanistan, according to military officials. The men were fatally wounded when insurgents attacked their military vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

Ceramic Cremation Urns: The Time to Buy is Now

August 22, 2012 urngarden.com

The time to buy a ceramic cremation urn is when you see one that catches your eye. Each urn is a one of kind piece and often families that are shopping for an urn online, see a ceramic or pottery style cremation urn and bookmark it, only to come back at their time of need and the item has sold. We can always create an urn similar to the one they saw or a custom work of art, but the family needs to be prepared to wait two to four weeks.

This happened to a West Coast widow who wanted a Raku urn for her terminally ill husband. She saw the urn, liked it, but when she came back to buy a couple of weeks later, it was sold.

She ordered two gingko leaf urns for her husband who spent his final days in a room with a view of a gingko tree outside the window. The family held a memorial service at the golf course and filled one of the urns with his favorite cigars, golf balls and tees and other remembrances. The other urn was used to bury his ashes.

Forged from natural materials and fire, ceramic is a time-honored material that can be used to craft an array of fine art items. This includes ceramic cremation urns. If you are looking for a way to hold your loved one’s remains in a tasteful work of art, you may want to choose a ceramic cremation urn as your solution.

Infant Urns: The Worst Part of the Job

July 26, 2012 urngarden.com

If someone asked me “What’s the best part of your job?” it’s that we are doing good works, helping families create an affordable memorial for their loved one.

The worst part? From a technical aspect it would have to be dealing with Google. When you work in a digital world rankings matter. You have to be creative when it comes to marketing the product that no one wants to buy.

So, when it comes to optimizing for infant urns, my stomach tightens and leaves me cold. Which triggers the emotional part of the equation. I really don’t want anyone to have to buy an urn for their baby or child.

Most of the time it’s women who are making the purchase, but over the years I’ve noticed that when an urn is needed for a baby, often it’s the father or a male family member who places the order.

Years ago, about three of us girls were standing around the office waiting for the clock to wind down and we were excitedly talking about babies. We even touched on how awful it must be to lose a child. What? Why were we talking about that?

One of the girls was very pregnant and due to give birth at any moment. Turns out? She did deliver later that evening and let’s just say it was less than a joyous occasion.

So when she came back to work, my heart was breaking for her. Plus, it was super awkward when a baby encounter would happen in the hallway.

GRIEF TALK

Caitlin Doughty has experience with this difficult situation and in this episode of Ask a Mortician she talks about what NOT to say to someone who’s lost their child:

Death On The Social Media Landscape

July 3, 2012 urngarden.com

I’ve been struggling with blending death and social media since 2007. Trying to figure out how to make it work, I started with a blog. I’ve always been a scribe and began to mix business with items of interest. I had no idea what I was doing. The heaviest traffic to the blog were posts that were not relevant to my business. I thought this was misguided and focused on writing for the search engines to promote my product. The commitment it takes to churn out fresh content on death and dying left me cold. I burned out and lost interest.

That’s because posting about a more personal loss makes people — both the poster and the readers — uncomfortable. It’s awkward enough to figure out whether to like, favorite or respond to tweets and status updates bemoaning a bad day, a breakup or a tragic news article. When it comes to death, it’s even harder. No one wants to see morbid thoughts and ruminations about death sandwiched between cheery updates about last night’s party and celebrity chatter.

– Jenna Wortham of The New York Times, in a post about discussing death online

New venues opened. More Internet Mouths to Feed. Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Pinterst, Tumblr, and along with sometimes sketchy characters called Social Media Gurus. We’ve experimented on some of the channels and results are mixed for the product that no one wants to buy. It’s been tricky to navigate web 2.0 and the grim reaper when you have a touch of anti-social behavior. Let’s just say I’ve lost “friends”. I’ve learned SO much. What I will and won’t do. That I won’t be so eager for traffic that I’ll use the Kardashians as link bait to my site.

My background is in advertising, friends and former co-workers are also doing a digital dance, transitioning media buys, creative, and news to the web. I’ve been told by more than a few advertising professionals that death and social media is a bad idea. I think they are wrong. True, urns are not as sexy as used cars, insurance, attorneys, and banks but over time I realized that the blog was working for me. Older posts that were written without any knowledge of SEO ranked well and even converted into sales. Just keeping it real.

Find the Key. You’ve Got the Gold.

May 20, 2012 urngarden.com

For days I’ve been trying to churn out a post on memorial chests and the words won’t come. Maybe because it’s been done. But I got sidetracked thinking about it and Sammy Hagar’s Three Lock Box came to mind. What is a three lock box? I looked it up.

The lyrics to the title track is commonly accepted as sexual innuendo, however Hagar has presented a story with a much more philosophical bent: “It’s got to do with deep sea diving, when you look for a buried treasure. The ultimate treasure would be a sunken treasure with three locks on it, because that means it was the most valuable stuff that the queen had on that ship. And you need three different guys with keys to open it, that way no one could steal it. So a ‘Three Lock Box’ to me is within yourself. If you unlock the treasure of your physical, and your mental and your spiritual potential – those three in balance – you are a real human being and almost godly.” From Wikipedia.

Mining for potential gold is appealing, painful, and in progress. “Real human” and “almost godly” is puzzling and has a Baptist ring to it. Let me hear the song.

Is Sammy wearing camo spandex? That vid led to the next one:

Then, I got distracted by Eddie’s camel toe and went on to read about Sammy’s tumultuous relationship with Van Halen. Now I have to go order the book Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock.

And if you really came here wanting to study memorial chests, here you go: