Red-Tinged Autumn Leaf

I went for a walk around the block tonight, completely unplanned.  It was just after 8pm. The Leatherkids and Leatherdaddy (who's been battling a nasty cold for awhile now) were already in bed, and I had just taken the garbage out.  The pavement was still damp from the brief, gentle rain that had fallen shortly before.  The sky was dark yet many of its clouds still visible.  I don't remember if I heard crickets or not -- seems like I did, but that could just be because I always expect to hear them at night.  It was still fairly warm, probably in the high 60's at the time.  I marvelled in how peaceful it was, smiled and just started walking.  Without giving it much thought, it just seemed like the perfect thing to do at the time.

I didn't do anything special on my walk -- did a little thinking, took some deep breaths and just enjoyed the peacefulness of the autumn night.  I walked down our block, turned the corner and then turned onto the next block and kept walking, having naturally fallen into a (non-)plan to just walk around the block.  About halfway down that street, I glanced at a tree on my left and noticed one of its leaves was tinged with red around the outside of it.  I'm sure the contrast against the green was a big factor, but I found the red color to be so striking and beautiful that I couldn't help but smile looking at it.

Carrie Newcomer, a folk singer whose music I really enjoy, sings a song called "I Believe." I think the song is fantastic -- very poetic and simple, acknowledging that we are not without our faults and recognizing the little, difference-making things that happen so naturally and effortlessly, things that just are.

I believe there are some debts that we can never repay... I believe there are some words that you can never unsay... and I don't know a single soul who didn't get lost along the way...

That's how it starts.  And somewhere in between is this chorus:

I believe there's healing in the sound of your voice... and that a summer tomato is a cause to rejoice... and that following a song was never a choice... never really...

My Autumn Leaf

And this is how I get back to the leaf -- instead of a summer tomato, I think she could have sung about this perfect, red-tinged autumn leaf that, without the red, would have gone unnoticed and just blended in with all of the other leaves.

I picked the leaf off of the tree and continued my walk, smiling and singing these lyrics in my head, so grateful that the night had invited me for a walk.