Seeing Things Differently

It’s odd how different people see things so differently. Take my leaf pin, for example. This being another warm December day, I wore just a jacket to town. The leaf pin happened to be on the jacket, so I left it there, even though it was too far out on the jacket's shoulder.

Among other errands I had an appointment with an ENT. I parked my car and was walking toward the building when a woman walking out stopped me. “Wait!” she said, “There’s something on your jacket, a leaf.”

She reached out to brush it away, but immediately realized that it was pinned down. She apologized and walked on.

When I saw the young physician’s assistant, he said, “Just a moment. There’s a leaf on your jacket.”

He brushed at it, then said, “Oh, it’s a button.”

This did not surprise me. I’ve had prior experience with leaf discomfort. One glorious October I visited Nancy and her family in Colorado. She and I went to Cleo’s school one afternoon to watch the children parade in their Halloween costumes.

We had to park some distance from the school and enjoyed a walk along the residential neighborhood sidewalk. The sky was blue beyond belief. The street was lined with maple trees covered with leaves of pure gold. Golden leaves slowly wafted down, drifting on lawns and sidewalk.

One falling leaf landed on my sweater shoulder and stuck. I thought it beautiful and hoped it would stay put. As we walked along three different women stopped me to say, “There’s a leaf on your shoulder.”

Many people are not comfortable with a real fallen leaf on someone’s clothing. But I see it differently.

Copyright 2012 by Shirley Domer