This time of year has always been a reflective time for me.
With all the leaves falling and changing colors? I stop to think about the year so far.
Some of the leaves falling are bright colored and fascinating. Others fall already dark and dull.
Some of leaves fall right next to the roots of the tree .. and some travel quite a ways.
Sometimes those leaves can be pretty messy.. and not fun to clean up. But I cannot help but be thankful for the trees anyway.
The bright colored leaves are fun to collect. I’ve often thought about making a collection of them. But then I always toss them back into the wind.
In many way, the memories from this year are like those leaves. Some of them shine with bright colors and bring a smile to my face.
Some of them?
Some are darker moments.. and take a lot more time to process .. They are still part of my year but not the memories I want to dwell on.
But today?
Today, as I watched a brightly shining leaf fall on a dried up dull one…?
I wondered… would that leaf look so bright…?
… if it hadn’t just fallen after the darker one?
As I picked up the bright red leaf…
I remembered the moment I put my feet in the grass for the first time… after I had been too sick and too weak to do so for weeks.
That grass.. that ordinary grass… looked like the most amazing of God’s creations to me .. in that moment.
But would it have looked as amazing to me? If I hadn’t struggled to get down the stairs? If I hadn’t needed to carry an oxygen tank to get that far?
No. The grass would have looked ordinary to me.. without the dull colored leaf to compare it to.
This November, I am going to post my thankful posts. But they may look a little different. I’m going to be thankful 2021 style.
I am going to collect those brightest colored leaves before they blow away… and maybe a few dull colored ones while I am at it.
I am fascinated by sunrises and sunsets… as are a lot of people. I take pictures of them frequently.. trying to capture their beauty on my phone.
Hmmm..
Today I was flipping through the 100’s of photos I took last week.. and I found one I hadn’t intended to take.
I never go anywhere without a camera. 
Jules Nelson 