Ever since I was given this quote last month (thanks Tracy <3), it's been with me. I hung it up on my fridge this weekend, along with a handy dandy flow chart from Kurt, and have looked at it quite frequently and have thought about it's meaning, especially, "life lives on lives." Wow...
With the quote still in my head, Brad and I drove up to Oak Glen this morning. I love, love, love the colorful Autumn leaves! Their beauty is breathtaking to me. I love the green leaves, but there's something about the yellow and red Autumn leaves that warms my heart. As I was staring out the window, I asked Brad why the leaves changed colors in Autumn (I guess I wasn't paying attention in class when they were talking about that)...I knew he'd know :) He said something about the sunlight not getting to the leaves, which killed them. I thought about that and decided that I would Google it when I got home.
As we started a wonderful walk in Oak Glen, I couldn't help but notice the leaves covering the path we were on...some brown, some yellow, some green, some orange, some red...we were walking on dying/dead leaves, but I knew that they had served their purpose in that life of theirs, so I didn't get too sad.
Once we got home, I started Google-ing and found out some wonderful information, all the while, watching the leaves fall off of the trees in my backyard. From my understanding, leaves take the sunlight and carbon dioxide and turn them into sugar for the trees...the trees food. In return, the trees give the leaves water...their food. Trees store extra sugar during summer, because they know that the days will get shorter in the fall and winter, which will mean less food to them. Once fall begins and the days get shorter, the trees begin to block-off the leaves water access. The trees know that the leaves will not be able to produce enough food for them, so they no longer need the leaves. Once the water is blocked from the leaves, the leaves die. The fallen leaves that cover the ground continue helping nature. They serve as food for small organisms and help capture the rainfall.
Wow..."life lives on lives,"...the leaves live to keep the trees alive and then the organisms live on the dead leaves. They give everything knowing that they will live a short life, a glorious short life, but a short life none the less. Thank you leaves. You are beautiful when you are young and you are beautiful when you are old. You are beautiful when you are born and you are beautiful when you die. "Life lives on lives."
