11/5

the letter i wrote to my family:

A little bright spot: we have Risha’s bench in the newly established Lilac Court in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I had expected to be able to pick the spot last March and then the Garden shut down… At the time, we had a map of the new area (it was still under construction) with 5 bench possibilities and the assurance that we would have the first choice of location.

When the garden reopened, late summer, I visited the area but it was still partially under construction and I was unclear which were the benches we had to choose from or even if all the benches were in. A few weeks ago I found out that our liaison at the Garden was no longer there and a new person, Leah, was taking over. I made an appointment to tour the area and in the pouring rain, Godfrey and I went over. All of a sudden i seemed as if there were only 3 benches in the area (hence my confusion on my earlier visit), then it became clear that of the 3 benches only 1 was actually facing the Lilac Court, the other two were in the immediate area but were technically in the Oak Grove and the lilacs were not really visible from them. THEN it turned out that the area above the Lilac Court, the (appropriately named) Overlook had also been renovated and 2 (dedicated) benches there needed to be relocated. Then it turned out that those relocations had taken 2 of the benches that we were being shown so there was only 1 left (not the one facing the Lilac Court)

Leah had already shown me the finished plaque so she knew how important the siting of the bench was. I made it clear that we were told there would be a choice of 5 benches (not 1) and that we would have 1st choice. It was evident that getting the bench we wanted was going to require some negotiating and renegotiating but she understood my position. She asked for a week or two to try to work things out. And apparently she was able to do so.
:)