The park bench

 He remembered sitting on a park bench eating an ice cream cone with his grandma. Decades have passed since that time, with the old bench replaced by a new one, a magnet for anyone with a pocketknife to carve out their initials, hearts, and professions of love. It was like a rite of passage, handed down and never forgotten as time made room for one more young lover's expression of first love.

He remembered his crudely carved heart done in the darkness of an empty park years ago, his own heart beating fast in fear of being caught, but never was. And like many others, an X carved through the heart meant a breakup and a message to others that they were over and available.
Those years of innocence were so different than today's, when a guy carved his feelings, and girls drew hearts on book covers for everyone to see. It was a time when milkshakes were shared and holding hands in the school hallways was a big deal. It was skipping last period and going to the park, where first kisses left you breathless and speechless, as you unveiled the heart you had carved for the world to see.
As my kids grew up, all the old benches were replaced with composite ones, making them impossible to carve on, so colored markers became the jackknives, and the legacy continued. Kids still hold hands and experience a first kiss; they still sit on a bench looking for an X, but more important is knowing their love can be expressed with a magic marker, whether time will erase it or not.
Mike  2026