July of 2021, my father based away from his third heart attack. He was a kind, emotionally intellegent, man of faith who raised my sister and I to be empathetic, expressive, social women of faith. My mom was the logic brain but dad was the heart. Dad told us before he died that he wanted to be buried near his parents (both deceased) and that his grave marker should be a bench so people could sit on it in the shade & visit him when they needed a place to rest. The place that did his monument were able to lazer etch the granite with high rez images, so I painted this landscape to adorn the backrest of the bench, with room at the top for names and deathdates for dad and mom, whenever her time comes. Dad loved sailboats and mom loves nature, especially mountain hikes, and they both were zealous church-goers. Our last vacation with him we rented a sailboat and cruised around lake michigan together. If Dad gets to imagine his own heaven, I think it would look something like this.

The bench has been installed for about a week now (there were big supply chain issues that delayed the process by over a year) and on thanksgiving my family plan to go visit it in person finally. I'll try and get some nice photos then.