A few questions for you:
· Have you ever raked leaves?
· Have you ever jumped in a pile of raked leaves?
· Have you ever re-raked and re-raked piles of leaves in which others have jumped?
· Have you ever gathered an armful of leaves and thrown them on a sibling or friend … or parent, if you dared?
· Have you ever tried to remove bits of crumbled leaves, broken twigs, and dried grasses from your hair after a leaf battle?
· Have you ever thrown leaves in the air in abandon, watching them freefall in the wind for a second time?
How many “yes” answers did you have? If four or more, you are a true autumn-leaf-play aficionado—which simply means you love to frolic in autumn leaves! You thrill to the sound of your feet crunching over crispy orange oak leaves covering the sidewalks or the sight of red maple leaves flipping across the ground as you kick them over and over.
Maybe you, as I, have special memories of these things. One of my favorites I participated in, but another I enjoyed the aftermath of the fun.
The latter came in a photograph, my favorite of all-time, the one which graces my Facebook blog page and my business cards. One year for my birthday, our daughters asked a friend for a photo shoot of the three of them. They chose autumn, my favorite season, and Little Buffalo State Park as the location, a place where we have many fond memories. Some photos showed silly girls with tiny pumpkins on their heads (no names mentioned). Others gave Mama a heart attack when seeing her offspring hanging off beams in a covered bridge. But the one of the girls tossing leaves in the air, joy on their faces, blesses me most.
Now, the one I took part in! Our one son-in-love grew up in a city and had never raked a pile of leaves. So, as soon as our oak tree dropped most of its yellow-orange leaves, I encouraged him to bring his then four-year-old daughter, Rosemary, for a day of leaf play.
To keep warm in the late autumn chill, we bundled up in sweaters and headed out. I handed the rake to Rosemary’s dad and said, “Here you go! Rake all these leaves into one huge pile!”
He looked around at the large area covered by leaves from a giant tree and gave me a look that said, “Do what?!” I smiled and grabbed Rosemary’s hand to show her how to kick the leaves as fast as Daddy raked them. He raked, we kicked, leaves flew! 
Finally, I corralled Rosemary by having her lie down so her mama and I could cover her with leaves. While she giggled and wiggled, her daddy finished the pile. Rosemary and I held hands, raced across the now bare grass, and leapt into the leaves, spreading them far and wide.
Daddy looked a bit bewildered as I handed him the rake he’d put down. Being a good sport, though, he reraked the pile over and over to his daughter’s delight. Her joy rang out as she jumped in pile after pile … with me, with her mama, and, giving him a break from raking, with her daddy.
What a fun memory! I just know God has a big old leaf-pile up there in heaven waiting for those of His children who love the feeling of flying through the air to land in a mountain of orange, red, and gold. And you know what? I think Jesus will be jumping in right beside us!
*** Do you just love jumping in autumn leaves? Share a story with us! Click on the words beside the date of this post. Scroll down to the box with the heading, “Leave a reply.” Thank you for sharing!
*** If you leave a comment, check back for my reply to it. I always respond to comments!
legaciesletloose 
Hi Cathy,
Of course you know I had to comment on this because it was about autumn leaves! I’m pretty sure I answered yes to all those questions! The memories that came to mind as I read this were of when my brothers and I were young and our grandparents recruited us to rake leaves at their house. They had a fairly large yard with many mature trees so it was leaf heaven for us! We’d rake into piles and have fun jumping in them, over and over again until finally we really had to rake them back into piles without jumping into them so they could be gathered up and toted to a burn pile. I never ever understood why anyone would want to get ride of their leaves, whether by raking or burning. They didn’t have leaf pickup programs back then. I thought they were so pretty just as they were and ought to be left alone.
In most of my adult years, up until a year ago, I lived in apartments. Raking was not something we were required to do. The maintenance crew took care of all that. But I’d hear friends and coworkers moaning and groaning over all the raking they were going to have to do. If I gave my 2 cents, which I occassionally did, I’d suggest why not just leave them alone. Why get rid of them. It was nature. And they were beautiful. Even once they lost their color and turned brown, the smell of them and the crunch under my feet was the best thing ever. People acted like they were a nuisance and that they must be gotten rid of ASAP, as if they were terrible intruders, or a disease! I’d just shake my head, not understanding one bit.
Now we have a house and last fall was our first time having to rake leaves. What a tough job that was. In our 50’s and having to rake for the first time in our adult lives. How sadly out of shape we were! We didn’t even have a big yard! But we went along with the neighborhood’s procedures. We raked and the “sucker-upper” truck, as I called it, would come and vacuum up all our leaves. But you know what? We never raked our backyard and I can’t see how it is worse the wear for having neglected that. Our yard looked fine over the Spring and Summer and now is wonderfully filled with leaves once again. Even so we recently bought a used leaf blower, just remembering how tough raking was on us last year. The only thing I care about is blowing the leaves off our sidewalk, porch, driveway and back deck. The rest can stay, as far as I’m concerned! I wish I could still jump in a pile of leaves but if I tried, it would probably lead to a trip to the hospital, lol. That’s okay. If we can make big enough piles this year, maybe my grandkids will get a chance to. Ohhhhh, now I get it! That was our grandparents’ sneaky tactic to get help raking leaves, making us think it was merely so we could have a lot of fun. If we’d thought it was just a chore, we’d have not wanted to do it!!! Grandma always was a smart lady!
Thanks for sharing your leafy stories, Cathy!!
— Leafy Julie
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Yep, sure had you figured to answer this one! How did you come upon that “nickname”?
I remember bagging leaves as a youth, but as with you, we never did it when I got married. We just let nature blow them where it wills! Do neighborhoods really MAKE you rake them?! How absurd! One of the other perks of living in the country, I guess. I love seeing them blow around and kicking through them as often as I want. The leaves in our area are exceptionally vibrant this year. I can barely stand the thought of autumn coming to an end, and indeed, it is. Today’s drive showed little left of the beauty, with a cold wind and temps in the low 40s. Not cool. (No pun intended!) Thank you for sharing and sticking with me through this past month. I was afraid I’d lost the one person whose comment I could pretty well count on. Blessings!
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Yes fall seems to just come and go so quickly. I so wish it would linger longer. We had some leaves changing color little by little, but one day last week (or was it the week before?) all the leaves turned and it was magnificent! But the very next day they started to fall and the woods behind our house is thinning more and more each day. Well I’m thankful for what we do get to enjoy of this wonderful transformation!
Our neighborhood doesn’t make us rake leaves, although I know there are some that do — the gated communities that have standards and rules, etc. But living in town, we have 2 scheduled days when the sucker-upper truck comes down our street so if we want them to get our leaves, then we need to have them raked or blown to the curb by one or both of those dates. The first pass has already come and hardly any leaves had yet fallen. The second pass is later this week, but we’ve had so much rain and snow that the leaves are wet and heavy, so unless they dry out enough for us to take care of, we’ll just let them go.
I knew you’d be looking for my comment, my being “leafy” and all, lol, and I worried about not commenting right away and didn’t want you to be discouraged, so tried to make a point of it as soon as I could. How did I get the name Leafy? Oh I think it was on Julie’s blog when she and I talked about how much we both liked the fall colors and the leaves. I think she may have been the one to dub me that name and it just stuck 🙂
Keep writing Cathy. I so enjoy your blogs!
— Leafy ♥
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Thanks, Leafy! I will!
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