L is for Leaves

L is for Leaves.

I suppose I may never tire of watching autumn leaves. Happy, colorful, and carefree, they dance through their final days...

 I watched them dance through the yard, swirling and twirling, happy and carefree. Without warning they ran straight into the road in front of my van, doing cartwheels as they went. If they ever looked both ways I didn't notice. The smiles, I'm sure, never vanished from their faces, and as I swished by they leaped out from under my tires and into the air behind me, shouts of laughter and excitement escaping their lips...

I wonder, do leaves yearn to be free from the branches that hold them all summer long? Do they close their eyes during thunder storms, or shiver on dark scary nights? Imagine the excitement of fluttering down from the highest branches, catching the breeze, floating upward again then spinning round and round on the dizzying descent!

Old age brings a new dimension to the life of a leaf. No longer tethered to the tree, they are free to twirl and dance. They fly through the air and sail on the breeze, spinning as they go. Early life found them supple and green, working hard to provide for their own. Now time has colored them red, orange, yellow and bronze, and left them brittle and stiff. They are dying, yet are, in some ways, more alive than ever before. It's almost as if they know the time is short and they are determined to make the most of it.

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