100 years from now most of us won't have weekly visits to our graves from friends and family. Our "markers" will be one among many and often overlooked by those who pass us by. Occasionally however, a distant relative many years following our death will want to find a connection to their past or perhaps someone just walking by will stop and pause for a moment to wonder about the stranger he reads about on that stone. It is when that distant relative begins his search of history or the stranger walking by who respectfully stops to read what has been etched in stone that WE again live on. For years I longed to get to my Great Grandmother's grave in NY but it was only recently that I was able to confirm her exact location. Desperate for the information that I knew had to be on that headstone, I published a public plea on findagrave.com for a picture. I wanted to honor the courage this woman displayed as she traveled alone, 9 months pregnant and with 2 other young children in tow in the dead of winter to an awaiting boat in Hamburg Germany. She gave birth to my Grandmother iand continued on to the waiting boat now with 3 children. I wanted to honor this strong woman by taking her Hebrew name for myself but there was no time before my conversion for me to make the journey to NY to find and read her headstone. My plea was heard by Dyane; a most compassionate volunteer with this website who made it her mission to help a total stranger. It is because of her that I intend to pay her act of kindness forward by becoming a volunteer photographer myself. I live today because of the courage displayed by my Great Grandmother in her journey to America but I am humbled and sincerely warmed by volunteers like Dyane who make it possible for those unable to physically visit the graves of friends and families to at least catch a brief fleeting view of the "marker" that ultimately sums up who we once were for the future generations and for strangers who just stop by to read another stranger's mark on life.

100 years from now most of us won't have weekly visits to our graves from friends and family. Our "markers" will be one among many and often overlooked by those who pass us by. Occasionally however, a distant relative many years following our death will want to find a connection to their past or perhaps someone just walking by will stop and pause for a moment to wonder about the stranger he reads about on that stone. It is when that distant relative begins his search of history or the stranger walking by who respectfully stops to read what has been etched in stone that WE again live on. For years I longed to get to my Great Grandmother's grave in NY but it was only recently that I was able to confirm her exact location. Desperate for the information that I knew had to be on that headstone, I published a public plea on findagrave.com for a picture. I wanted to honor the courage this woman displayed as she traveled alone, 9 months pregnant and with 2 other young children in tow in the dead of winter to an awaiting boat in Hamburg Germany. She gave birth to my Grandmother iand continued on to the waiting boat now with 3 children. I wanted to honor this strong woman by taking her Hebrew name for myself but there was no time before my conversion for me to make the journey to NY to find and read her headstone. My plea was heard by Dyane; a most compassionate volunteer with this website who made it her mission to help a total stranger. It is because of her that I intend to pay her act of kindness forward by becoming a volunteer photographer myself. I live today because of the courage displayed by my Great Grandmother in her journey to America but I am humbled and sincerely warmed by volunteers like Dyane who make it possible for those unable to physically visit the graves of friends and families to at least catch a brief fleeting view of the "marker" that ultimately sums up who we once were for the future generations and for strangers who just stop by to read another stranger's mark on life.