The Bright Side

"Well, look at the bright side."  Strange words from the mouth of the worst (or best; I don't know how these things are graded) pessimist ever.  I once asked Steve why he always thought of every bad thing that could happen to each and every plan or project, and accused him of dragging around his very own cloud of gloom and doom.  "Because then the only surprises are good ones."  I suppose that makes a perverted kind of sense.  He did usually end his itemization of potential disasters with, "Look at the bright side," as a concession to what he considered my idiotic optimism.

The first time my sister Pat came to visit, she exclaimed, "My goodness, you must spend a lot of time raking leaves."  I'm sure my expression said, "I think you've grown two heads," but I muttered, "Not really."  The winds of the last week have nearly denuded the oak trees and there is a thick layer of leaves everywhere you look.  It's really quite beautiful in its own way.  But I'd have to rake ten acres of these leaves, and then what would I do with that mountain of fallen glory?  The fact is, this is the blanket that Nature pulls over the earth to protect the bulbs and seeds so they can sleep warmly through the winter, waiting for the wake-up call of spring.  I don't have to go to the time and effort to spread mulch to get that same effect.  And that's the bright side!