Against the mundane

I have walked on the nature path that is adjacent to my house many times.  I love walking on it for the exercise, of course, but also for the peculiar view of bullrushes lining the little creek that runs through it.  Willow trees and a few Cottonwoods are mixed in with the bullrushes in certain spots along the winding course of the creek.

A little while ago, I happened to be looking at the line of bullrushes and the trees as I had a hundred other times, but thought that something might be a little different.  The eyes play tricks on the brain all the time, so there's nothing new there.  But, I began trying to isolate what was different.  Everything looked basically the same except that little yellow patch against the backdrop of solid green.  Yes, what was that yellow patch?

A golden-leaved tree?  How did that sneak in?  I don't remember seeing that before.  But, it was too large to have been newly planted.  Wow, how could I have missed a tree that stood out so clearly against the otherwise monochromatic green of the park?  Its golden leaves made it outstanding and beautiful in its setting.  I stared at it.

I stared at it then and have so ever since then because it represents to me what happened on my journey down a recent path in my life.  Life was pretty routine, mundane actually, when boom!, a thing of beauty suddenly entered it.  I have stared at it ever since that recent time because of its beauty in its setting.  Oh, how I enjoy to look at it (figuratively and literally).  What I wouldn't give for it to be in my setting now.  I would enjoy it every day of my life soaking in its golden leaves in the otherwise monochromatic color around me.

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