Fall Walk

Posted bySusan Dieter-RobinsonPosted inGrief

leaf

Linus and I just got back from a walk, something that he needs a couple of times a day. Tom is great, he usually walks him in the morning and in the evening. My job is to walk him during the day and if I don’t he is very naughty.

Today is beautiful ~ cold crisp air, sun shining bright and the smell of Fall ~ my favorite time of year.

As I walked I began to see the piles in the street. It’s been this way for about a week, neighbors anticipating the city leaf pick-up program to come and take them away. I just pulled up the flyer ~ their next pick-up day in my neighborhood is November 30.

That’s a long time to see piles of leaves in the street.

We were about 3 blocks from our house and Linus, wanting desperately to visit his friend Briggs, pulled me in the direction of our friends, Kimi and Eric’s house. As I turned the corner tears began to fall down my cheek. They too had raked their leaves recently, but placed around the pile in the street were 4 cones. These cones were in honor of my girls. They were a reminder to those passing to be careful and to not drive through them.  They were a symbol of love, heartache and what our dear friends felt they could do to make their friends not hurt so much.

As I continued my walk realized that a lot of people had kept their trash cans out by the street guarding the leaves that were placed and others had raked them into a pile just off the street to be placed the day of pick-up. I also began to notice that some people didn’t have any leaves ~ they weren’t in the street, weren’t waiting to be raked or in a pile on the grass. My thought was they raked, bagged and put them in green waste to avoid the visual all together.

Thank you!

15 thoughts on “Fall Walk”

  5. Susan, in my area of Cedar Mill the flyer reminding us of the dates for leaf pickup included a warning to teach your children to stay out of leaf piles and for everyone to drive safely around them. Maybe another child’s life will be saved because of the ripple of caring and concern that has radiated from you and your girls this past year. Love and Joy!

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  6. I love this! You have great friends, great community and so many of us have great LOVE for you Susan. Our hearts are still grieving for you, but I LOVE hearing this, because it makes my heart so happy to think of the LOVE that God sends you, through these gestures of LOVE from others. Sending you hugs ❤

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  8. We will never put leaves in the street again. We do not want you to have to see them and we never want another family to experience the loss you have. This fall I haven’t wanted to even see leaves in piles. It’s a tough reminder for all of us whose hearts still grieve for your loss.

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