When the Dog Walker was little, one of his favorite things on the planet was to frolic (and I mean frolic!) in a huge pile of leaves. One day, when he was about 12, I caught him heading for the front yard with the rake swung over his shoulder. It seemed odd since the leaves were mostly still fastened tightly to the 3 big maple trees in our front yard.
 |
| Skittles |
Not long after that, through our large living room window, I watched him trying desperately to "rake" the leaves out of the trees just so he would have something to jump in.
He still loves to play in the leaves, but over the last few weeks, his Corn Maze in our front yard has made it difficult for him to use the leaves even though every year they fall in and around his display.
 |
| Twizlet is always up for a party! |
So on November 1st (sometimes late in the evening on the 31st), the display comes down. Then he rapidly rakes together his huge pile of mostly yellow leaves and he gets started. The jumping can take hours to get just right...
When he was younger, he wasn't great at sharing his pile of leaves, but now he can't wait to share his joy with others. In fact, as soon as he had them all raked up this year, he took Skittles and Twizlet outside so the three of them could do a little jumping.
 |
| The Beast tossed Twizlet and Little Warrior into the leaves over and over. |
After a while, he reluctantly headed off to work and the lonely leaves waited for someone to join them. It wasn't long before Beauty and The Beast showed up at my door. At first Little Warrior did all he could to avoid that ginormous pile covering my front lawn, but it wasn't long before The Beast had enough of his nonsense and just picked him up and threw him in! After that, even The Beast couldn't keep him out for long. When Twizlet heard the racket, she managed to join the fun.
 |
| Little Warrior loves this new-found activity! |
Even though Beauty had already climbed into the car with Little Squire, after a while she could no longer resist and soon she was playing in the leaves as well. Sadly, Dog Walker was at work, so he missed all the excitement.
 |
| Twizlet |
On Monday morning, I was heading out early to run some errands when I heard the low drone of the lawnmower. My heart sank to the growing pit in my stomach. My sweetie was mulching and mowing the leaves and packing them into bags so he could use them to cover the garden for the cold winter months. I shook my head sadly and called out, "I can't believe you are already getting rid of the leaves. And on Dog Walker's birthday..."
 |
| Twizlet and Little Warrior |
My sweetie switched off the mower for a minute. "Didn't he get some time to jump in them?" For a fleeting moment he didn't seem to remember that young boy who could spend hours and hours entertaining himself in a pile of crinkly crackly leaves that ended up clinging to his socks and down his backside and attaching themselves to his hair. I swear those leaves seemed to love him almost as much as he loved them.
 |
| Beauty and Little Warrior |
My sweet boy with a rake who was so excited he "helped" the leaves fall a little faster; that same boy who today was suddenly a man of 26 with a wife and a life of his own. That same man who expressed his disappointment the minute I was within hearing distance this afternoon.
Don't lose that smile, my dearest Dog Walker, we have lots more trees...
 |
| Dog Walker, Skittles, and Twizlet |
And Happy Birthday!
