The wind stung my cheeks as I walked the path toward our
favorite spot. I hadn't been on this trail in over a year.
Standing next to me was Emily, my wife of fifty years. I
looked at her, and she smiled. Her cheeks rose playfully up her face, creating
little pockets of joy that dared me not to fall in love all over again. Her
hair was gone, but I didn't mind, it seemed to bring out the beauty of her face
even more; every line and wrinkle laughing along with her.
The leaves swirled around my feet, inviting me to dance. I
lifted Emily up and spun her around, laughing as if it was our wedding day. We
loved to dance together, going to lessons every Sunday.
I saw something on the ground, and bent down to look at it. It was a tiny snake. I love snakes, Emily- not so much.
She didn't like slimy creatures with no legs. I remembered the time I brought home a snake I found
in our garden, because it was hurt. She agreed we could keep it in the house until it recovered, although she wouldn't go near it and refused to feed it. She cracked eventually, the day we were letting it go she asked me if she could be the one to release it.
I followed the snake as it slithered up the path, leading my
way.
The air was brisk, and it made my eyes water. We loved the
fall, the colors in the forest look like a painter had gone mad and dumped
his buckets everywhere; and how we could keep warm by pulling each other close
as we walked.
The snake stopped in front of a dead tree. I didn't remember
this tree, or, rather, I remembered they were all alive the last time I had
been here. It looked young, too young for a tree to die. I thought about the reasons a tree might die, and what had happened to this one in particular.
After a few minutes, I decided that it didn't really matter how it died.
Nothing could bring it back to life.
We were almost to our favorite spot, a little bench at the
top of the hill, overlooking the valley below, and the mountains in the
distance. During autumn, I reckoned there was hardly a more beautiful scene on
Earth. The trees and plants were ablaze with color, accentuating the setting
sun and the fiery horizon. I walked to the edge, breathing it in. I picked some flowers next to me, and
sat on the bench. For half an hour I watched the sun sink lower in the sky. I
sighed, and wished Emily could be here to see this. It had been a year since
she had passed away from cancer, and I missed her every day. I placed the
flowers on her grave, and started the long walk home.
