Deciduous Trees

I was driving back to work after lunch today and I noticed one lonely, dead leaf floating through the air, down to the ground. I drove on and a moments later, I noticed another single, dead leaf floating down to the ground. At first I was inclined to call someone I love and declare, "It's raining leaves!" Then the rational part of my mind, which is very small, took over. I looked at the trees that lined the side of the road of which I was following. At first glance the trees seemed bare and void of all leaves. But as I looked closer I could see that there were still a handful of leaves on the branches of each tree, hanging on for dear life. I looked at all of the leaves on the ground around the trees. There were hundreds, probably thousands, of leaves on the ground. I couldn't help but wonder WHY those few leaves were still in the hanging onto the branches when the majority of the leaves were on the ground. How on earth were they withstanding the wind and other elements of nature? I know this is silly, but I began cheering the remaining leaves on in my mind! I was thinking things like, "Sure, you're dead and mother nature is working completely against you, but keep hold of that tree! Keep holding on!" In the few moments I spent thinking about the few strong leaves, I felt empowered. Those leaves don't know why they're holding on. Leaves don't know anything, really. Yet they were holding on. They were standing against the odds. Against the norm. Against man's understanding of the laws of nature.
There are a dozen parallels that I could draw right now about how this relates to life, my personal life, and the ever-present force of evil working on us in this world. Unfortunately, I'm at work and don't have time. Feel free to draw your own parallels and share them with me. Really. :)

In high school, my gal pals and I had a favorite movie in that we loved to quote, "You've Got Mail." This is one of the lines that my friend AnnaLee and I used to quote often:

"Kathleen, you are a lone reed. You are a lone reed, standing tall, waving boldly in the corrupt sands of commerce."

I've never thought about the meaning of this quote, we just liked the way Meg Ryan said it. Today I like meaning of the line more than the delivery. Sometimes I feel a little like Kathleen Kelly. We all do.

I'm glad I saw that leaf floating down to the ground today. It reminded me to keep holding on.