Taylored Memorial Creations

  When someone passes, friends and family struggle to know what to do to show they care and how to reach out. I wanted to mention a few things that helped me when I lost my husband, Ed, in the hope that it might help someone, anyone, be there when they know someone struggling with a loss. The first thing I want to mention is the meals. Especially the food that was brought over the week of his passing leading into the funeral. I had so many people in and out, and family staying, it was a big relief to not worry about food. And one person brought sandwich fixings--bread, deli meats, condiments, it was great for allowing people at my apartment to fix a sandwich if they were hungry. Priceless. Someone arranged a meal sign up platform, like TakeThemaMeal.com or Meal Train. I don’t remember which, but it was wonderful to have the meals arranged after the funeral. It helped with a physical need that I did not have the ability to verbalize, but definitely had the need. People deliv...

            As I showered and washed off the dust from the 8 ½ hours of driving, I reflected on the days spent at the family reunion in Grantsburg, Wisconsin. It was AMAZING! There is something about being around people who knew my mom and my sister, which fosters a deep bond in a way few people can. People who knew my grandparents and my other aunts and uncles. Those who knew my sister that passed away decades ago in a motorcycle accident. And those who knew my husband, who I lost only five years ago. When we are all together, we laugh, we cry, we tease each other. We talk about things that happened when we were young—different cousinly perspectives on things that happened while we were growing up. We talk about each of our paths after those reminiscent days, and funny things like all of us and our **ahem** mixed appreciation of Grandpa Finazzi’s iconic black chest hair sticking out in great tufts from within his white t-shirt. Our family often ...

                         I had an epiphany in the shower this morning while rinsing through all my long hair, trying to get every drop of shampoo out. I realized through the process of washing my long locks that hair length is a good example of minimalism.             If you have longer hair it takes longer to shampoo--much longer to thoroughly shampoo it and way longer to rinse the shampoo from your hair. And if you use a conditioner it takes another round of applying the conditioner to all your hair, and then another thorough rinse.             Short hair is a quick wash. Easy in, easy out.             I can guarantee that 10 minutes of my shower time in the morning is washing and conditioning my hair since I have let it grow long. Not so wi...

  One cold day in February, after another overflow toilet emergency, I decided I needed a break and packed a bag to stay with a friend for a few days. The thought of leaving my toilet trouble in my rearview for a few days brought an enormous sense of relief. I knew it was temporary, but I just really needed a break.   At the conclusion of my “break” we had a big snowstorm with below zero temperatures. The day I planned to return I couldn't make it back to the little house, so I asked my son to check on it.   He found my furnace shut off and my pipes frozen. He played with the thermostat until the furnace kicked back on.   The next day I worked remotely, then I drove back to my "presumably" heated house.   And it was certainly heated. However, when I opened the front door, I could hear what sounded like a waterfall. As I stepped into the house, my boots squished into the soggy area rug, and I looked down to discover about an inch of water in the living room...

  I moved into a little house on my property. It was in the back, and when I say "little", I mean little ! The entire house was 480 square feet.   In the bathroom you could literally sit on the toilet and wash your hands and move the shower curtain. You know those rugs you buy for around your toilet? Mine doubled as the same rug I stepped on when I exited the shower. There was no floor space for any other bathroom rugs. None.   My husband and I purchased the property with the two houses about 15 years earlier. After he passed away, with both of my kids grown and out of the house, I thought the little house might be a good place for me to "land". I knew the bathroom was in bad shape, but the previous tenant never complained. Which meant in reality, I had NO idea what I was moving into!   The bathroom floor had divets in it, where moisture had caused the particle board to sink in. And yes, the floor was apparently particle board. The rust in the shower had been...

    People are often impressed that I joined the Army out of high school. But the truth is, I joined the Army because the recruiters were pushy, and I did not think I had any alternative options. I was a straight A student, and in the National Honor Society. But no one talked to me about going to college, and I didn’t know how I could possibly pay for it. I didn’t have a car, or even my license or a job, so these things seemed so far out of reach that I didn’t even see it as an option.   My mom never encouraged me to drive. She worked 2nd shift, and she was divorced. My two older sisters drove her car when they lived at home, and both had part-time jobs. I never really thought to ask, and my mom never offered or asked.   I don’t know why she didn’t. The story I tell myself is that it was so stressful to have my older sisters driving her car, and inconvenient, and costly to have them included on her car insurance, that she opted to not encourage me to drive. ...

               Ed was a pastor who seldom wore a tie. He owned ties but believed in a more casual appearance. He didn’t want people to feel like they couldn’t attend church if they didn’t have nice “church clothes”. He always prescribed to the “come as you are” philosophy.             However, he often sported a tie when officiating a wedding or funeral, or some other more serious event. He had a small variety of his favorites. Most of his ties were the plain red, the plain blue or black, and a couple with stripes. He might have had few varieties so as not to interfere with his partial color blindness, I am not sure.             Either way, he had his more professional and versatile plain color ties, and then he had the ties that more reflected his personality. His Snoopy and Charlie Brown tie, his Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse and two...