Imagination?

Carved into the old maple tree were the words Michael loves Catherine. The letters had faded into the bark over time but if one looked close enough a roughly etched heart could be seen encircling the names and the year 1949.

I had hiked past this tree many times in my youth as I explored the trails of this old canyon. I guess I had always been moving to fast because until today I had never noticed the names carved into the tree.

My fertile imagination took me on a trip back in time and I began to explore the trail left by lives led my Michael and Catherine.

In 1949 Michael was sixteen and Catherine was fifteen. They had been neighbors and best friends for ten years. Until recently that was the extent of their relationship. However, in the summer of '49 they discovered the feelings they shared ran deeper than mere friendship and their love began to bloom.

They were married in 1952 just before Michael shipped off to basic training. He was shipped off to the Korean peninsula and returned a decorated veteran before they took an honest to goodness honeymoon.

Michael went into construction during the building boom of the fifties. He and some war buddies built a small but successful business specializing in more customized houses than the cookie cutter models the industry began turning out.

On the home front Catherine gave birth to three girls. One in 1954, followed by one in 1956, and finally one in 1958. The girls grew up happy and well loved. Every summer the family rented the same cottage on the lake along with several other couples.

The men would spend the days fishing and the evenings around a bon fire drinking Coors and swapping war stories. The children swam through out the day and chased each other through the woods long into the evening. The wives played Hearts and gossiped through out the warm afternoons.

Michael and Catherine married their three daughters off to wonderful husbands. One who took over the families' share of the construction business when Michael retired.

Now in their seventies Michael and Catherine were retired and enjoying the good life. Bouncing grandbabies on their knees and visiting parts of the world that they had only dreamed about seeing.

I shook my head and though to myself how off base my invented fantasy probably was from reality. They probably broke up that very same summer and never saw each other again.

I turned to go and something on the ground in front of the tree caught my eye. The weeds had been pulled and a various flowers had been planted and tended to. A small sign sat in amongst the various blooms.

I knelt down and saw that the sign read: To my beloved Catherine. Thank you for 55 years of more happiness than any man deserved. I miss you more each and every day. I love you.

Maybe my imagination was not so wild after all.