I'm driving home from work tonight when it happened. As I came around the last corner to my street, two leaves jumped off of their tree and landed just in front of my car. Now what caused them to jump off at that moment? Of all the days, of all the hours, of all the minutes and seconds. It happened just as I approached that these leaves jumped. Had I not been speeding two blocks earlier would I have missed this, or would they have waited for me?
Leaves survive a lot of things. They come out in the spring time. They are exposed to the extreme heat and light of the sun all summer long. They endure heavy rains and high winds as hurricanes passed through the area. Birds come in, build nests, bugs come in and eat some of the leaves. But many survive. Only to have the tree itself starve them in the winter. I'm thinking that these leaves, the ones that we all enjoy looking at in the fall, are suffering. They sit on the tree during these hard times, waiting for their time to go. The two of them that jumped tonight, must have seen the lights of my car approaching. This is a quick way to end the suffering. Maybe they discussed it ahead of time. To jump at the same time. It must have been a scary moment. Then you have to consider the awesome amount of timing these two must have had. The time it takes to slowly float to the road had to be taken into consideration.
There's still plenty of leaves left on this tree. I'll do my best to swerve out of the way the next time.
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