This leaf for instance...battered and broken apart by life, much of it gone, and yet it holds it's form, demanding it's own survival. Today it demanded some level of recognition from me personally when it flew into my windshield at 45MPH and held on for the 4 miles between the store and my home. There it was, starring me in the face all the way home, silently demanding I take notice of it's splendor, of the struggles it has faced, of it's continued survival as a leaf in spite of life eating away at it. And all the way home I was rooting for it because it IS glorious, a work of art, at least to me... so fragile and yet so strong... a silent survivor against all odds.
I lifted it carefully from my windshield after pulling into my carport, and carried it gently into the house. I am mounting it into a frame, on a background of velvet, and hanging it in a place of honor in my home... in order to not only pay tribute to it's struggle, and the rare beauty it has become, but also to remind myself to never give up... not ever. In my own way I am hoping to give it a miracle, one battered soul to another, by helping to extend it's existence, and it's importance, beyond even it's wildest expectations.
I only hope my own struggle, my mere existence, means half as much to someone else someday... as this well traveled leaf and it's countless secret adventures means to me.
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