Over a decade ago my family moved into a farmhouse built in the 1800s, and with this came an expanse of land free for us to roam. On one of our numerous treks through the woods, when we first moved in, we stumbled upon an old beech tree on a far corner of our property. Unbeknownst to us this tree had a dozen or more carved names within it, with different dates going back almost 100 years. A revelation that still leaves us wondering how this tree alone was deemed the one so many people etched pieces of their lives into.

Our land has seen many owners throughout its 200 years of settlement, and somehow along the way one simple beech tree, obviously much smaller when initially carved into, incited something within a couple or family that caused them to leave their mark. We see this all the time within media, people carving their names and the date on a tree. It has even become an iconic declaration of love to carve initials of significant others on a tree to declare to the world one's affections.

But why do we do this? Perhaps, it is because trees can withstand the tests of time longer than we. There's something comforting in leaving our mark on a living part of the Earth that could last hundreds of years past our own demise. Morbid? Maybe, but at the same time while clambering on the tree to read the numerous names, those who left their mark were briefly thought of again, and isn't that what we want, to be remembered?

I know that I will not be the first nor the last to examine the tree, inspecting its carvings with curiosity. The farthest date back I was able to decipher was 1930. During a time of turmoil and depression within our country, someone with the initials R.F. and E.H. ran to the woods and found this tree, leaving their mark on a world in need of a little hope. May 17, 1934 another person, C.R., made an elaborate carving into the beech tree, and the initials continue into the fifties, with a heart and an arrow for a D.W. Making me wonder if these people lasted the tests of time or perhaps it was simply young love. Each carving a mystery I wish I could solve, but the tree is the one who holds the answers, if only it could talk.

Onto the 2000s, my family like those before me left our names to be remembered on the tree. And now to the 2010s, the one I love and I leave our initials to declare our affections and hope for the future. We, like other people, desire this remembrance. Though we know that our carvings will stretch and morph over the years as the tree continues to grow and withstand the weathering of time, a part of ourselves is now with it. We grow and are weathered by the ever changing years, but the carvings on this tree of life memorialize a fleeting minute in which time will always remain unchanged. To R.F., E.H., D.W., and Z.M., and myself among many others the marks on this tree say one simple phrase "We were here."