Acorns

 Once we moved to Maryland I wanted to get us back on our schedule.  This included our nightly walks.  That was a lot harder to do than I anticipated.   I wasn’t prepared for the oppressing east coast heat and humidity. It kept us inside for weeks. After a month of being indoors I started to feel like a caged animal.  One evening I broke out and took a short walk through our neighborhood, which I hadn’t explored yet.  I discovered that we were surrounded by small forests full of deer, squirrels, foxes and rabbits.  We aren’t in a rural area, but all the trees make it feel like we are.

A few more weeks had passed and the early fall temperatures broke through the heat and humidity of summer.  I was finally getting out and taking my grandson for a walk.  It was just he and I, so it was fairly quiet.  I could hear “things” rustle in the leaves and only hoped we didn’t encounter a skunk.  Actually I figured it was the squirrels gathering nuts for the winter.  I was right, kind of.

While yes the squirrels were scurrying around collecting nuts for the winter, what I was actually hearing were the acorns falling from all the tall oak trees and bouncing off the sidewalk and streets.  There were so many you could hear them hit the ground and watch them bounce.

I was so excited!  Here I was at the beginning of fall on the east coast.  Fall colors are legendary here.  The news even tracks the best times to view the colors based on region.  I’m here with Cutie E and I get to share this with him like I did his mommy.  He’s too young to collect acorns or grasp the story of how his mommy, uncle, auntie and I used to collect them in Oregon, but I knew he and I needed to collect our own acorn tops.

It didn’t take long before the both cup holders and phone holder were full of acorn caps.  My son in-law was curious why his son’s stroller suddenly became full of acorn caps.  First I had to explain that we don't collect the nuts because they will sprout and bring in bugs, gross.  Besides, the squirrels need them.  Then I shared a wonderful memory I have of collecting them with my kids and how we used them to decorate at Thanksgiving.  Now we get to use the ones Cutie E and I collected to decorate our new home that we share together.

I didn’t anticipate collecting acorn tops, something I would share with my grandson, but I’m so grateful for the sunny fall afternoon when the acorns fell.  It reminded me of something special I did with his mommy.

Hugs,

Grammy