"Never Jump Into A Pile Of Leaves With A Wet Sucker"

What ever happened to the pure, unadulterated bliss of jumping into a freshly raked pile of leaves?

I can’t honestly remember a time in the recent past when I saw kids playing in the leaves, let alone jumping into a big heaping mound of beautifully colored fallen leaves.

We used to live for Autumn, to go outside in the afternoon or early evening, after raking most of the day and jump in the pile of leaves. I can remember jumping off the picnic table!

We’d get up after rolling around in them, with leaves inside our clothes, hanging from our hair, tangled in our shoe laces, laughing so hard we thought we’d pee our pants.

And then there was that unmistakable smell of Autumn leaves burning that wafted all over the neighborhood, as columns of white smoke climbed into the air from nearly every driveway.

“Kids today” (can’t believe I used that term) think they have so much with all their video games, electronics, brand name sportswear, etc. but I honestly believe we were far ‘richer’, having such simple experiences, that meant so much, things we can remember and relive through our memories for years to come.



Us kids of yesteryear aren’t the only ones who appreciate the joy of fallen Autumn leaves.