A once in a lifetime event

Although we did our best and took a walk after lunch, the dog and I missed seeing the eclipse. The sky became eerily dark, but there were just too many clouds to get a glimpse of the moon crossing in front of the sun. Oh well. Better luck next time, I say. If eclipses are your thing, I hope you were luckier than we were.

When we came home, I noticed a bright red maple leaf no larger than the size of a quarter on the driveway. Every autumn, I am both happy and a little sad to see the leaves change. Our five acres of sugar maples are a lovely sight to behold in September and October. It’s what comes after that I’m not too crazy about.

The grass still needs to be cut and so, after our walk, I went to find my special lawn mowing shoes by the back door. I gave each one a good whack against the side of the house to make sure there were no spiders in them. Then, I sat on the back steps to put them on. The left one went on fine, but when I stuck my foot in the right one, I felt my toes touch something soft and squishy. I pulled my foot out and peered into the shoe. Let me pause here to say that at this age, I am only still deathly afraid of two things. The first is out-living one of my children. The second is toads.

By now, you have no doubt guessed what was in the toe of my tennis shoe, haven’t you?

What does someone who is deathly afraid of toads do when one realizes that a toad has taken up residence in her shoe? Well, I can tell you what this someone did. I threw that shoe. Hard. Then, for good measure, I tossed the other one right next to it. Both bounced near the raspberry bushes. The dog walked to the fence, looked at the shoes on the other side and then looked back to me as if to say, “how am I supposed to get those over there?” The shoes are still there. So is the toad. I know, because I checked.  And I have a new special pair of lawn mowing shoes. In the garage, I might add.

And so, while I missed seeing the eclipse and am feeling ambivalent about that little red maple leaf on the driveway, I am still grateful. For a lot of things, actually.

Mainly, I am thankful that on the day of a once in a lifetime event, that I was wearing socks.