Leaving Something Behind That Says, "I Was Here"

I was reading someone’s blog post recently about something that their husband had built for them. It reminded me of the different places I’ve lived and the different homes that I’ve had in my life. So many of them hold special memories for me.  You can never take away a memory, but sometimes you do have to leave special things behind.

For example, I had to leave two rosebushes that represented my two daughters. They still grow (I imagine) in the yard of the home where I brought my second daughter home from the hospital. That was the same house where my husband built me a trellis with a heart on it. We cut it down and took it with us to our next house. But alas, this last move, we had to leave it behind. So my beloved “love” trellis with the heart still graces the back yard there.  As does a spot known only to us where we buried our beloved cat. He was an indoor cat, and we just knew he’d love being out in the yard with all the birds that he always enjoyed watching.

I remember the house I grew up in. We carved (our initials, I think it was) in the cement when it was poured on our back patio. I imagine our mark is still there.

These are some of the memories and marks that I know I’ve left behind in my life. I’m sure there will be many more. Spots in time that we leave behind us. I think of things like this when I’m in Europe or in the East and I’m touching a very old building or bridge. I wonder who has gone before me and left a certain stain or mark behind them? Were they happy? What was their life like? What was that moment in time like for them?

We live. We breathe. We leave behind marks of our life. Maybe it’s something carved in cement or on a tree. Maybe it’s something we’ve planted or built. But we’ve added something to this world by being there.

We leave part of ourselves behind. Part of who we were at that moment in time. Something that says, “I was here.”

And I love that.