small monuments

If anyone in the family happens to travel to Stanardsville, we could use some photos of the Lawson cemetery. I have found none in the national cemetery web pages. Our family has a special inheritance, unusual within the panorama of  American history: not the least of which is the hauntingly beautiful antebellum  Lawson cemetery with its breathtaking views of the mountains, and the authentic homestead nearby---all of which could be altered or disappear entirely within the next generation.
In her last days, the early days of the new millennium, Grandma Carrie wanted above all to join her bones to those of  her mother, her people, her land, Virginia, at the foot of the ancient blue ridge of mountains. Having been there, having listened to her stories, I can see why. A centenarian, she had the length and breadth of vision that few can achieve, the wisdom of over a century, and a very gentle and loving heart.
Grandma wanted very much to preserve and pass on her heritage to whomever would take the time and interest to listen and to take action. Confined by her circumstances in life, and later by economics and the limitations of her body, her mind was still active and seeking, always reaching, to pass on what she learned, what she experienced, and what she dreamed, so that others, her children and her children's children, could benefit. So, she told us, her children who would take the time to listen, what she knew. It is up to us to pass her hopeful torch and keep its light burning however we can. Here is a small beginning.
Thanks to our cousins the Shifletts of Virginia, I have learned what can be done to capture, preserve, and perpetuate the vitality and special character of our family. This is not the only way to accomplish this; but it is a start.
I beg you to take the time to capture a memory or observation about our family. Feel free to take the reins and blaze your own trails: so many branches of our family tree can be explored. And hey kids, Harry Potter was doing this very same thing! Some day, your children will thank you. In small ways we make history.