The sun is now hanging lower in the sky, the leaves are almost gone with the exception of the mighty Oak and the pecan trees. It is now the middle of Fall with hints of Summer that cause the afternoon temperature to climb beyond the expected, and the night chills to call for the extra blankets on the bed.
Let's walk for a while in this, one of the last nice days of Autumn. I love the crisp feel of all the colorful leaves beneath my feet.......reminds me of the last Fall in my home place that I left behind twenty-one years ago. I gathered my three grandchildren around me to help with the raking of all the fallen leaves. Their ages were three, five and seven. As we raked the leaves into a great pile in the middle of the yard, the temptation was too much. The children began to run and jump into the leaves with sounds of laughter and happy screams. Again and again we piled the leaves high as they continued the fun. They begged me to join them each time, and each time I would continue to rake leaves, make a few pictures and enjoy watching them. Finally, I found I too, could not resist. They stood back and watched as I, their grandmother ran quickly forward and pounced into that great pile of leaves.
We never did reach our goal of ridding the yard of the leaves that day. The fun of play and the ability of my grandchildren to coax me into my childhood once again was too much for me to resist. Today I treasure and enjoy that memory. The memory of the sore muscles, aching knees and general discomfort have been replaced by the happy memory of that warm, sunny Fall afternoon in November.
Before that afternoon ended, my seven-year old grandson decided we should have a game of football. He announced that we should all line up for two teams of two each and run and tackle the one with the ball. I declined that game by explaining that I was too old to be playing football. He stood back, gave me a quizzical look and exclaimed, "you are not old, you are a Nana!"
Yes! I played the game!
