Here’s to the Surprise

One tree has lost all its leaves. Eerie-looking branches and tentacles spread out in all directions. There’s another tree where the leaves have all turned yellow. With the recent rain, some of the leaves have drooped. My scientific way of saying that I suspect they’ll soon start falling to the ground.

Still, there’s another section of trees where the leaves are bright green—almost as if they’re holding onto the last vestige of summer.

(Na, na, na, nah. We’re not coming inside yet, and you can’t make us.)

I like looking at this section of trees. We’re still early in autumn, but I find myself thinking about the Circle of Life.

We’re all making our own way.

We’re a little like the four stages of human life portrayed by 19th-century painter Thomas Cole in his series The Voyage of Life: childhood, youth, manhood and old age.

We’re a cast of characters.

One person may be just getting started on their adventure, with a lifetime stretching out in front of them. Another may have hit life’s Easy Street, with youth, money, status, influence and success. Someone else has worked a lifetime, has the aches and pains to prove it, and is beginning to think about retirement. And another may be in life’s Golden Years, still asking that same question: What comes next?

The trees remind me to be empathetic. They remind me of the importance of grace and understanding.

We’re all carrying burdens, obstacles and challenges that no one else knows about. We’re all trying to find our way. From the outside, we may think we know where someone is in life. We may say about one person, “Oh, they’ve got it made. They have everything life has to offer.”

We may critique another person’s looks or struggles, but we rarely know the whole story.

Oh, I love late fall, when the trees explode in bright reds, oranges and yellows. It’s fun to walk through the woods and be privy to Nature’s light show. It’s a beautiful experience. It’s like having front-row seats to the biggest concert in town.

Bruno Mars. Beyoncé. Taylor Swift.

But I still love the variety and spice of life.

We don’t always look at it this way—struggles and challenges tend to leave a sour taste in our mouth—but life is a present that keeps unwrapping itself, revealing something new with every season.

Maybe that’s what I like most about these trees. They remind me that there isn’t one right way—or one right time—to live life

We are where we are.

Some leaves have fallen. Some are changing. Some are still holding on to summer.

And we’re all exactly where we are, making our way.

Here’s to the surprise.

Images by Pexels.