A Gathering of Leaves

 

Imagine, if you will, a time when there was a gathering of leaves every year.

 

Three very different types of gatherings pop into my mind. 

Let’s imagine together. 

 

The first includes creating small piles with three pairs of hands.

 

Scooping and pulling a few random leaves together as a small part of the yard was cleared away. 

 

Step by step. 

Pause. A few more leaves? Yes!  

Wait. Ok. Now a few more. 

 

Taking this amount of time always brought long moments of looking around to make sure the best leaves were in the pile.

 

This also brought little grins along with the beginning piles. 

Grins happen with gathering

Keep track of how many grins happen with the gathering, my friends.

It’s going to be fun!

 

Do you have memories of this type of activity where you live? 

Pull in a few of yours as I keep going with another way this gathering of leaves has looked. 

 

At one point, we had a large tree that dropped almost every leaf on its branches in one day. 

 

It was as if it suddenly rained big green leaves outside for hours after the first time it dropped below freezing temperature. 

 

Watching the sunrise with frozen leaves falling from the top the branches forty feet above the ground brought even more time to stop, look up and get ready for what comes next.

 

Brisk mornings gave time to eat breakfast and bundle up. 

 

Gather the large rake and bags along with the warmest coats and gloves.

 

What happened next was part of an all-day job. 

It was a joy

Job? No no no. It was a joy. 

 

This tree could drop at least twenty – 20! – bags of leaves on this one day. 

Can you imagine the gathering of leaves that we would create? Ok. Now, go bigger! 

 

It took all three of us hours to gather, pile and stuff leaves into bags. The two of us, call us the parents, and then our Tall One. 

 

Why? Well, have you been around a pile of leaves as tall as a young child or their parents?  

Tell me, my friends, what is going to be the first, second and third thing on the list of things to do with a pile that tall? 

 

Yes! You jump, throw the leaves and run.

 

Oh yeah. And you grin until your cheeks hurt. 

It’s the best. 

 

Memory number two. This gathering also includes an aunt or a grandma, uncle or friend, randomly or perhaps delightfully designed, placed near the gathering. 

 

Do you see why this took all day? 

And so it should, I say, so it should. 

Gatherings that take all day

Do you have gatherings that take all day because of careful designs that may appear to be random. 

Welcome. You are in good company. 

 

Now, we will go into the realm of the third leaf gathering. 

 

To do this I ask that you breathe with me and get ready to look up. 

Yes, I know this time has been about gathering leaves from the comfy grass. 

 

Oh, how I love to be comfy. 

 

Did you take your breath? 

Lovely. 

 

If you look at a gathering of leaves that swirl and twirl in a picture after the wind has gently blown them around a corner, perhaps they will look like this. 

 

Some are near each other with a side view while one or two leaves are gathered closer together. 

 

One year, we saw this as quite a few leaves had gathered near a triangle in the yard and the wind continually blew them up, around then down again. 

 

It was time to pick them up.

It would be only one of us

This time it would be only one of the three of us. 

Dallin, our Tall One, was not as strong as he had been in the past as changes had come for him. I would watch with him from inside and Brandon would go outside. 

 

Good plan, or so we thought. 

 

Then this happened.  

Dallin signed that he wanted to go outside and help pick up. 

This change in plans was natural to him. This is what you do. It is time to gather, pick up and get to work. 

 

Let’s go.  It’s like on those Handful of Dates that I remember and always will.

 

So, we did. 

 

Out the door he went with me helping to get down a couple of stairs. 

He had a little grin as he walked over to begin. 

 

One by one. Step by step.

 

With the utmost care and precision, he gathered one, two then three leaves and placed them in the large bin. 

 

Determination was the game now along with pauses to make sure the best leaves were going into the pile. 

 

Suddenly, one more thing popped into the picture that brought a small grin to our day. 

 

We live near an airport where large helicopters sometimes practice maneuvers. 

This day at the exact moment we were outside a large group of helicopters flew directly over our house. 

 

Dallin looked up. More precision with movement holding onto someone to stay balanced.  

 

Paused. 

 

Took a deep breath.  

Seeing the helicopters added perfection to his day. Thanks to their precision, life was good. The gathering was complete.

 

Then let us know he was finished. 

 

This gathering of leaves was the shortest and the sweetest. 

It brought a level of grand joy with three leaves and looking up. 

 

My friends. When is a gathering like these memories that have popped into our world. 

 

May you find joy, grins and sweet times.