Fallen Leaves... and broken backs

It was almost as if I could forget the rest of the world was going on.

For one afternoon, for a couple of hours of back-breaking work, time was irrelevant. It might as well have not existed for the past six years. I totally forgot the job search, the unpaid bills, the cruelness of the real world and just enjoyed the not-so-fun chores warm weekend days require. It was the same for Alex; we both thought of nothing but the task before us. The same task we’d seen before. This afternoon I didn’t care about quelching my thirst for a new adventure; I cared only about getting all those damn leaves off the grass before the snow came.


So that’s what we did.


Alex and I woke up to the bellowing voice of my father screaming up that pancakes were ready. So, awake or not, we hurried downstairs to get our fill of bacon, sausage, fresh-pressed orange juice, and breakfast goodies. My dad was clearly buttering us up.

Mouth full of toast, smeared newspaper in hand, he broke the news: “I’m really going to need your help raking today.”

We responded with groans and the rolling of eyes.

Truth is, raking in this house is nothing like in our old neighborhood where we had two acres of forest-surrounded lawn to protect. But it doesn’t matter. It sucks. Raking and hauling leaves up and down our hilly driveway is painful and tedious work we’ve been putting off for weeks. Last weekend was the Pat’s game. The weekend before it was nice enough to golf. No excuses this time around.


But it’s got to be done. And watching the dogs frolic in wind-blown leaves, I thought of nothing else but how sore my muscles were and that this is what my family does every fall. This is what it’s like to have all four of us together again with two dogs, just as it was each autumn growing up. This is the same chore my brother and I hated late each fall, just as shoveling is the dreaded duty all winter. Since the last time the four of us woke up one weekend to rake, Alex and I have both graduated high school, successfully completed college, had and lost relationships, ventured off for unknown adventures, and gained several inches and pounds.

And then we gave in to nostalgia and took the dogs to our old neighborhood for a romp around with whatever other dogs happened to be out to play.

We may have grown up… but some things just never change.