Green light for the bench!

I got word today that the location I chose for Sandy's bench has been approved. I'm absolutely thrilled. It's on the I-90 trail, just east of the bridge as you arrive on Mercer Island. I think it's the perfect spot, because it's where she always stopped to catch her breath, regroup with others, and peel off extra layers. Additionally, it's a place I pass frequently, as do many friends. It's also not far from a parking lot, so even those who don't feel up to biking across the I-90 bridge can visit it if they want to.

The top image shows the satellite view of the location; the bottom map is meant to provide a little
context, in case the site isn't familiar. It's a pleasant spot with a view of the lake and the playfield.
And though it looks in the image as if it's surrounded by cars, the trees provide a buffer and it's a low-
traffic area much of the time. I had a few second choices in mind, but this is the one that really makes sense.

She wanted a bench, and I'd made that commitment to her many times over the years, so I'd be doing this regardless. But I have come to think of it as a substitute gravesite, in a way. While I believe that anyone can communicate with Sandy from any location, it can be helpful to have a place to focus that reflection. There's no burial site for her, and I'd prefer not to have everyone parade into our bedroom to hang out with her ashes whenever they miss her. But the bench will be there, with her name and some words about her, and I like to think it might, at some level, serve the purpose that cemeteries serve.

She posed in front of the ceanothus at
the Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle in 2004.

In addition to the bench, I've asked to have a ceanothus planted there. Flowers just don't get much bluer than ceanothus, and they were among her favorites. Before we knew what they were, many years ago, while we were stopped at a stoplight, she urged (okay, ordered) me to get out of the car and snip a bit of a bush so she could find out how to get it into her life. We never identified a place in our yard that would get enough sun to support a ceanothus, but maybe she can have one by her bench. I should find out soon.

I've already paid. The Mercer Island Parks Department will order and install (and maintain in perpetuity) the bench, and the ceanothus, if it's approved. What remains on my task list is to come up with the words for the plaque. I need to come up with something within the next few weeks. So I'm asking for help.

Her name will be on it, of course. There are about three lines of text allowed. They'll send me the exact dimensions, but I'd like to have some ideas before I even get the numbers. I think it should be about Sandy, or a message she'd want to communicate, rather than about how much she is missed. (The bench itself communicates that she is missed.) Ideally, it would incorporate her love of cycling, her focus on community, and laughter. (Reading, too, potentially, though I'm planning to have a bench put in when the park on our block is redesigned this year, and its plaque will say something about reading, because she read there.)

This is brainstorming and crowdsourcing, folks. Any idea might stimulate another. So if you have any thoughts on what the plaque might say, please toss them my way through the comments field here, email, carrier pigeon, or any other method that works for you! Thanks in advance for your creativity and inspiration.