A LOVING RAMBLE

        Lately I’ve noticed leaves falling from trees in an undisturbed and slow-moving manner, just one every few seconds, sidling slowly down in their own sweet time. We haven’t yet reached the days when there’s a daily downpour of leaves, and so we have these single leaves that seem to linger in the air as they waft their way here and there above the lawns and streets. Watching them for a few minutes this morning, I thought of some people I’ve known who seemed able to live like these leaves, sort of floating effortlessly with the updrafts and downdrafts of life. They seemed to instinctively know that nothing is gained by grappling with life, and that a good way to live is to let life lead the way in its outstandingly whimsical manner. They worked hard, yes, and they reliably did their duties, but I always saw a smoothness in their actions, almost as though they were amusing themselves rather than working. Like the solitary leaves that glide above us with ease in these early autumn days, these friends from my past made living look like a loving ramble rather than a demanding ordeal.