There is a maple tree outside my family-room window that, last fall, took my breath away. Leaves of gold, purple and red that framed it like a beautiful halo.

That tree was there before we built the house nine years ago. But last year, for the first time, I came to love it.

I have begrudgingly raked its leaves in the fall and appreciated its shade in the sweltering Florida summers but had never before appreciated its beauty.

What was different this time is that Florida is experiencing one of its coldest winters on record, and that unusually cold weather gave us the most beautiful foliage I have seen in my 30 years living here. Normally, we don't get the sharp difference in seasons seen in more northerly states, and as a result, we are forced to drive north if we want to witness Autumn at its grandest.

Now, looking out of my window as the last few leaves fall from the tree that has given me so much joy this season, I am reminded of how much we take for granted in life. How much we miss.

So much of life is the everyday. The mundane. It’s only when something extraordinary happens that we wake up to see what is so often right under our noses.

Bad things in particular have a way of waking us up, leaving searing memories that last a lifetime. How often, though, do we recognize the good things that happen unexpectedly in our lives that also deserve lasting places in our memories?

Toward the end of last summer, my husband was helping me glass in our sun porch, a project I had started but needed his help to finish. He had his hammer and I had mine, and we were banging away when I missed the intended nail head and banged my finger full-force.

When I could breath again, I began to cry like a 2-year-old. The pain was tremendous. My fingernail would later blacken and fall off.

My husband rushed to comfort me, but it was only after the first pain was subsiding that I looked up to see that his eyes were also filled with tears.

Wow! To know that I am loved like that was eye opening. It was an unexpected occurrence, the memory of which I will carry for life.

Sometimes out of bad experiences come offers of help, hands to hold, shoulders to lean on. Our tears mirrored on the faces of those we love.

It’s so easy to remember the coldest winter ever or the awful pain of a smashed finger. I hope to also remember that this winter was preceded by the most beautiful autumn foliage.

And I will never forget my husband’s tears.
***
D. Barbara McWhite grew up in York County, S.C., and lives in Orange Park, Fla., with her husband and cat.

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