Hello world. I am a leaf. Not just any leaf - I AM A MAPLE LEAF! No need to brag. After all, I am the lone symbol of an entire nation. Heck, there’s even a hockey team named after me. No other leaf in the woods can make such claims. When I turn color my beauty is special beyond words...from tip to tip shades of red, yellow, auburn and orange - a palette of colors which can only be found in nature, i.e. me. (Dare I say that my friends, the Oaks, remain “green with envy”?)

I live in a tree with my brothers and sisters whom we call Mother Maple. Our tree is perched on a steep bank overlooking a bend in the Mount Vernon stream in Springdale Township, Wisconsin. To my left is a small rapids with a constant, rhythmic “gurgle”. In front of me is a tranquil pool which you humans would describe as about thirty feet across. To my right exits a small, yet swift, current around the bend, leading to who knows where?

All summer long my brothers, sisters and I provide shade to the pool. (It’s not the easy life it may appear as we are busy 24/7 making the oxygen you enjoy...something of a trade secret best left for another day). We know the trout and lesser fish must love it here as there is a relentless “parade” of fishermen, some with success. In the evenings we are entertained by all kinds of wildlife under our branches. The deer and the raccoons are the noisiest with their crunching of underbrush and constant chatter. The coyotes and fox come through with contrasting stealth. My personal favorite is the muskrats, as they effortlessly practice their swimming.

But now it’s Autumn, and with time in short supply, it is also my time to shine. With my spectacular color change comes a loosening of my grip and slight shriveling of my extremities. Some of my brothers and sisters have already landed on the pool and followed the lead of the current...slow at first, and then accelerating out of sight around the bend.

My time is close, and now at hand. Now, if only I can time my release to land face up allowing me to wave goodbye to Mother. Here I go, in total free fall with the wafting of a gentle breeze beneath my wings - rocking left, then right, and then left again. Every year it’s the same set of emotions, wishing that I could somehow make this long anticipated moment of such freedom last longer than just the few precious seconds that gravity mandates.

I did it - a perfectly soft landing on my back. Alas, the current now beckons.

Farewell to all. I’ll see you next year and it will be even more glorious.