Lucky me.  Each morning, year round, I can glance up at my kitchen wall and see the colors of five amazing fall leaves in this pottery leaf mobile, a gift some years ago from my son, Phil, and his wife, Diane.  I don’t even have to wait for summer colors to fade out in the yard, or the winter snows to disappear.   I only have to look up to see these fall leaf colors right in my very own kitchen, 24-7, year round. It gives me tremendous joy every single day.

People talk frequently about how lives pass before them at warp speed at times.  The same thing happens to me when I look up at this much-loved leaf mobile, but it’s the life of my son that I see passing before me at warp speed.  I look up at these beautiful leaves and see the seasons flashing before my eyes, remembering my son as a little boy, sitting on top of packing boxes at age 2 1/2, during our first big family move to a new town, then as a WSU college student at graduation,  (how does that time go so quickly?), then on his wedding day with his beautiful bride, Diane, and then suddenly as a father to my two darling granddaughters, Jamie and Tate.

Sometimes I wonder where I’ve been during all this time. Life is going by too quickly for me these days. I tell myself I’m putting together a memoir for my children, but I think I might actually be putting it together for myself. I don’t want to ever forget anything like this treasured leaf mobile that gives me such joy ever single day.