and the leaves laughed...

oh, the leaves. I live in Michigan. What a place to be after Ohio St. beat up on Mich. St. Sweet mercy! But this is the place to be if you want to enjoy the Autumn metamorphosis. It is splendor beyond compare. It actually is the time of year that I don't much yearn for heaven. I like it here. Is that wrong? I like driving under a canapy of color arching over the country road. I love the smell of my yard after a fresh cut. I love watching my daughters jump into the pile of leaves I just raked into a heap. I love eating wild apples that have just fallen from the tree. I love seeing the deer roaming about on the farmland. I love the sunrise making the low-lying fog glow like a hovering spirit. I love the gleam of the full moon casting shadows across my lawn as I take the garbage out. I love the crickets and peepers bursting into song as the dusk becomes increasingly darker. I love the sound of geese migrating north for the winter. I love the smell of my daughters clothes after they spend time outside playing...the smell of the outdoors on clothing is priceless. I love the tireswing that hangs from my Ash tree waiting to be climbed upon and twirled. I love the laughter of my daughters when I'm chasing them in this new game I made up called "Prison Break" (yes, I love that series on ABC). I love writing a new song after nearly a year of writer's block. I love seeing tears fall from people's eyes when I'm telling stories of homeless folk at the mission downtown. I love giving hugs to harrassed souls needing a spoonfull of friendship with a dash of hope thrown in for good measure. I love taking a deep breath early in the morning and actually tasting the air. I love walking in the yard and marveling that I own my own plot of land on this beautiful earth...how I long to care for it well. I love chasing this pesky groundhog that refuses to give up digging a burrow under my landscaping along the garage...(he's dead meat...I'm so mad at him, I might eat that rodent when I catch him just to take his rebellious flesh into my own bossom so as to let my digestive system break him down bit by bit until he's nothing but dung being flushed down my toilet. Wow, I just realized I've got serious issues.) I love making people laugh. I love creating life where there appears to be none. I love seeing the lights at the friday night football game light up the sky. I love watching leaves float down the river. I love looking up at the stars and just letting my mind go to to the infinite vastness of universe. I love life.

And though there are days when I would just as soon get hit my a semi, I quite enjoy waking up in the morning knowing I've got another shot at bring deeper, fuller redemption to this place. This morning, as I took my daughters to school, I smiled at the dawn of a new day...and the leaves laughed.