Memorials

One of my favorite parts of my job is that I get to find data and pictures of different cities. I love to imagine living in different places throughout the country. Google's street view maps are one of my favorite new toys. I just checked out CNN Money's new list for top 25 places for affordable houses. This was a list of cities that had very nice homes for a very cheap price. Des Moines was on the list so I had to go there. And one of the other cities listed was Bella Vista, Arkansas.

I had never heard of this city but I'm always interested in looking at cities south of me so I pulled up the city-data information on the place. City-data offers demographic, climate, education, and attraction data for locations. It also offers pictures. And that is where I saw this structure.

I've always said that I want to be turned into a firework when I die. A company will turn your cremated remains into a firework that can be shot up in a private ceremony. I love the idea of going out with a bang, but this is truly a memorial.
Now for anyone who knows me, you know that religion plays a very small role in my life. I don't attend church, don't practice any organized religion, and don't even really believe, but this is different. I wouldn't have it as a chapel. I would just have it as a resting place where people could go to soak up the beauty of nature. The memorial, dedicated to Mildred B. Cooper (a prominent citizen of the area), seems to me more about communion with nature and the beauty of nature then communing with any higher power. It is a place for introspection among some of the prettiest surroundings I can think of. It is a place that I would spend some time.

I am going to have to make a trip south. Bella Vista is a tiny town (the area only has 16,000) but I will go down just to see this structure. Of all the memorials I have ever seen this is the most beautiful. And the most fitting with what I would want.