It's all about perspective
This is Paddle Boat Lane Park
My neighbors and I combined some of our outdoor furniture
and placed it on the grassy knoll across the Lane from our homes.
and placed it on the grassy knoll across the Lane from our homes.
It's been a wonderful gathering place.
It's also been a place that made me see things from a different perspective.
One of my favorite signs of Fall are the Golden Raintrees. I like them for several reasons.
Years ago my mother sent me a photo of her sitting by a Golden Raintree with her friend Jean Marie. It's not in color. I have no idea where that photo is. I just remember it. And to me, it is a sign of true friendship and that memory warms my heart now that mother is almost 99 years old and what she has left are many memories.
About 15 years ago my granddaughter, Allie, was faced with the beginning of what has been a lifelong health issue. I was with her and my daughter one Fall as we drove to one of her doctor's appointments. The road was lined with Golden Raintrees - filled with yellow flowers.
Allie told me her mother loves those trees especially when the yellow flowers turn bright pink. As it turns out, Allie, who is now 18 has a favorite color - pink. And when I think of those rides Allie and my daughter shared, I can only be thankful that even though her issue that required doctor's appointments has never gone away, she's an excited college freshman who is loving her life.
I recently thought it strange that I had not seen any Golden Raintrees yet and my friend Evelyn suggested that it might be too soon.
She was right.
And I got a surprise.
As I sat on a bench in our little neighborhood park I saw it. Towering over a house on the same side that my house was on - a Golden Raintree.
I never knew that it was there.
22 years in this house and I had totally missed one of my favorite things. So I walked to the culdesac at the end of my street to take a photo and got another surprise.
The yellow flowers are turning to hot pink.
There are lessons for me in the Golden Raintrees. I can appreciate the memories my mother enjoys and listen when she shares them. I am so thankful for the life my granddaughter now enjoys. And I'm going to keep enjoying sitting on a bench in our little Paddle Boat Park.
You never know what you might see -- when you look from a different perspective.
May your life have enough sunshine
so that you will appreciate the shadows
