A special detail for memorial markers at Reflection Park

“What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.”

The words above are nestled in the middle of Linda Ellis’ poem “The Dash,” which is a poignant reminder that what matters most about our lives, particularly to those who love us, is not just the day we are born or the day we die, but also the ways we spend the days represented by the mighty dash on our eventual gravestone. A simple punctuation mark offered as a placeholder for the entirety of a human life — a powerful symbol of the magnitude of small things and the beauty of the between days.

Once the ground settles after a burial at Reflection Park, graves are marked with small flat stones flush with the ground to align with our vision for a natural space. This sizing will accommodate a loved one’s name, dates of birth and death, and one additional line of text. We acknowledge that there will never be enough space to fully convey the entirety of a human life, and so we rely upon the quiet power of the dash to say what cannot be adequately expressed in words but can still be held in our hearts as we honor a life lived.