Fall Leaves

It's a beautiful Sunday morning - the end of my Fall Break. It went way too fast. I'm thrilled that this break was so much better than previous ones. Last fall, I spent the week with e.d. The year before I moved out of Jeff's house and into an apartment. Seems like forever ago, but at the same time it seems like yesterday. I could not be more happy than I am in this moment so I'm not going to ruin it thinking of yesterdays, at least not now.

Grace and I just got back from a walk at Tom Sawyer's Park. The colors on the trees were beautiful.

I learned several years ago that the leaves don't actually turn colors, but really lose the green to reveal the color. The trees use the energy (green) throughout the summer season and then show their true colors just before a time of dormancy.

I wonder if we are the same way. Actually using your energy, or the gifts that have been given to you, laying it all on the table. . . perhaps that leaves us in our authentic selves. Cathy said yesterday in reference to a bush in her front yard that she wished it was an evergreen because it looks so dead in the winter. This was after her comment on how beautiful it was in the spring. Maybe things that are always beautiful aren't all that beautiful after all.

My grandma used to say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Maybe I'm the one who finds fall the most beautiful of all. Maybe I like the look of a tree who has used up everything they have to experience a few moments of authenticity. Or maybe I like the thought of dormancy, to be still, refill, begin again. Being able to start over, a second chance is a gift that I bet even an evergreen could appreciate.