I was walking through a local park a couple of days ago, enjoying the beauty of the falling leaves in all their glorious colours, people walking their 'pets' and enjoying the crisp clear sunny day. And suddenly there was surprise and delight to see three young guys, all in overalls signifying that they were working somewhere nearby, playing a wonderful game: chase the leaf as it falls from the tree! Although it was obvious that it had turned into a sort of competition, this aspect of the game seemed minor, in comparison to the joy and laughter of each one in his turn looking for a leaf falling from any tree within reasonable distance from their 'starting block.
And one of the most wonderful things of all is that as a leaf was falling in front of me, one of them appreared suddenly in front of me, dodging and weaving to catch the leaf as it changed direction many times, almost as though it were trying to outwit him. Even though we almost collided, he managed to catch the leaf and gave a big beaming smile as we looked at each other. No apology was necessary of course - you wouldn't ask a small child playing such a game to to do so, so why an adult in the same spirit!
It was uncertain whether the man really looked at the beauty of the leaf, with its shiny surface and its soft orangy-brown colouring, but joy was still there in him. A very powerful reminder of our ability and need to live in play and the wonder and beauty of the moment!
Such a great story! I'm 37 and definitely feel that a balance of what you do with your life is important. My wife and I will sometimes just start wrestling (playfully) as a different sort of way to let go of tension. Now as for the leaves, the trees around my house have already done their thing, so no leaf chasing for us...however, I did rake them into huge piles a week ago, and we haven't gotten to picking them up. Hmm, long jump anyone? :-)
posted by PaulSmith on 11/12/2007 6:33 pm