It’s funny how simple events become so much more important later down the road, like the potting bench Tom and I built a few years ago.

 We had so much fun and it was the last big project we did after his diagnosis. This is not a post about Alzheimer’s, his privacy is too important for that. It’s a love letter to my Tom.

 We built this bench when we were still in Tampa and when we moved Tom wanted to leave it behind because it is so heavy but, I wasn’t having that. It was important to me so she made it into the truck and to Tennessee.

 In July, Tom and will have been married for 48 years. We raised 3 wonderful children, they all have incredible spouses who actually like their in-laws ( I think😊) and we are blessed with 5 perfect grandchildren. We have had a great life.

 When we arrived in Tennessee I was overwhelmed so, one of the foolish things I did was to have them put our bench against the back of the house where it sat unused for nearly 3 years.

Poor neglected potting bench. Time for a refresh!

So here we are today, our children moved her onto our patio next to the garden. The old girl has seen better days but with a bit of lipstick, I feel we can make her better than ever.

Potting bench ready for refresh!

I loved this bench from the moment we finished it and I used it all the time. Recently I have been doing a lot of gardening and yard work. I find it calming and therapeutic. Plus I get beautiful flowers! I needed our bench again!

The evaluation was not grim, far from it. The shelf was rotted so that had to be replaced, pretty much all of the boards on top need to be nailed down, a good paint job and she would be good as new. I can’t wait to start using her again.

I’ll need to hammer down the loose boards and refresh the finish

I started by hammering nails into the wood top to secure it well. Some of the boards warped a bit but, honestly, it adds character. Next I removed anything that was attached to the back and painted it white. I stained the top again with a poly stain in Expresso to freshen it up.

The start of the refresh.

While it was drying, I headed to Lowes to purchase a shelf and see if there were any gems in the back on the clearance shelves. Of course, there were.

I stained the shelf and attached it to the bench. The next day I finished the bottom half and start potting some plants!

I finished up the painting so I headed to Dollar Tree to get some pots for herbs then to Home Depot for the herbs and maybe some small plants.

The potting bench refresh is finished!

And here she is, better than ever. I did take Tom out to see the refresh of our bench but, I’m not sure he understood.

She is as lovely as before!

So this is my love letter to Tom. It’s obviously not the bench, it’s the memories. Every time I garden, plant on our bench, I think of you and how much fun we had building her. I think about our life, our adventures, our beautiful family.  I love you.

Alzheimer’s is a cruel disease. A very long goodbye.