Slice of Life: Lending Leaves and Making Connections

(This is for the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We write on Tuesdays about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)

I’m not sure how we first got connected with Stan the Fix It Man, or Margie the Leaf Lady, or Henry, or a few others whom we connect with only once a year, during Autumn Leaf Season. To be fair, it was probably my wife who made first contact with all of these folks.

You see, we have leaves. Lots of leaves. And they need leaves, for gardens and trees and more. So once a year, either we reach out to them or they reach out to us, and we make a connection. We also check in with other – making sure all is well — so the transaction  becomes more personal, if transitory, and then we’ll get to the business of arranging delivery or pick-up of the two or three dozen or so bags that we will have from the front and back yards of our home.

I visited with Stan the other day, and he was out in his garden, digging up some rhubarb for a neighbor who stood there with him, listening to his instructions on planting and eating the plant, and then he told me, and his neighbor, all about how he wants to use my leaves to protect his Fig tree, and how wonderful fresh figs are off the tree, and how next time I came around, he’d be sure to give me a few fresh figs. He’s doing fine.

Margie let us know that she was battling some infestation of some kind in her garden, where our leaves provide protective cover over the winter, and so she needed a little time to let the frost settle in before prepping her space for our delivery of bags. Our leaves — particularly the maple — are coveted for their richness, I guess. She’s doing fine.

I suppose this is how community is — the small connections that are part of a larger network or fabric, and how even the simple chatter of connection — even only yearly — makes for something worth writing about. It’s easy to cocoon — particularly in a pandemic — but it’s so important to be part of something larger, too.

Yes, I could make connections from this piece to online writing spaces like Slice of Life, too. I hope you are well.

Peace (falling and then, collecting),
Kevin

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