Summers that Have Been

I saw this bench on our way to dinner not far from where we’ll be moving in a few weeks. It has a spectacular view of the ocean. Throughout the night, I kept thinking about sitting on a bench with a message like that. Stirred a lot in me.

Do you see the message as simply sentimental or is there a lot more to it for you, too?

*post title from J.R.R. Tolkien's poem, I Sit Beside the Fire and Think

“I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies in summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun and wind upon my hair.”