Of Red Maple and Gold Carpet

My office red maple

     Looking out the breakfast room windows, our back lawn is carpeted with leaves–mostly golden yellow, but with an occasional hint of red or orange peeking from beneath.

     Right now, in this brief, maybe week-long period when the leaves are still bright with just enough sap in them to lay flat and remain pliable, the effect is as mesmerizing as a blanket of new snow.

     I had been captivated by this fall’s colors–focusing on a particular maple outside my office, since the first cool-snap had come. The maple turned from deep, bright green to a brilliant red over the course of a couple of weeks. Each day I checked its progress, and, when I felt it had reached peak color, I took a picture for posterity.

     It was my wife who called my attention to the view outside my back door. Only a day earlier I had stepped outside with my camera phone to snap a shot of the leaves glowing from the tree branches. In my backyard, the maples are mostly yellow, surrounded by sweet gum, poplar and pine. The photos I had taken found leaves not so brilliant as my office maple, but beautiful nonetheless. And, in the 24 hours that had passed, the wind had blown steadily thinning the foliage on the trees and scattering the leaves over the still-green grass.

     The sight elicited a sigh from my wife and a recollection:

     “Do you remember what would have happened a few years ago if our yard had that many leaves on it?” she asked.

     I hadn’t thought about those leaf piles until that moment, but, her question immediately took me back.

New carpet for the back yard

     Like so many of us over so many autumn days, this is the time of year when I would rake or blow the leaves into a giant pile and invite my kids to jump in. We would do it over and over again for a week or two, until a rain, decay or stray dog rendered the leaf pile unusable. That’s when I would rake or mulch the brown, brittle leaves to the curb for recycling.

     We’re past the leaf jumping days now, and it would be fair to say that I’ve moved into the autumn of my life, but I’m not mourning.

     The leaf-covered back yard is only for a season. Spring, along with the promise of new life, fresh leaves and more memories, will soon follow.

     So, I relish this season, with a thankful heart, remembering the past, drinking in the present and anticipating a future piled high with autumn leaves.