Nature Observation 1

     I was strolling around the TCU campus today and that is when I saw the leaf. Now, normally I wouldn't think much of this because there are many trees on campus and thus there are a even more leaves. However, this leaf managed to catch my eye not because of its connection to the tree but its independence from it. It was falling. Although, falling does not seem to be the right word because falling could mean falling as in when one drops a rock and it plummets to the ground, no, this was a more graceful descent. It twirled and spiraled in a graceful waltz before it gently landed on the warm, soft grass. I was like watching a single wing try to take flight, but no matter how hard it flapped it could not take flight. I walked over to it and picked it up. It felt its rough, smoothness grip my skin. I got the feeling that if rubbed hard enough the leaf cut cut my skin but at the same time water could run right over it without any hindrance. But, the oddest thing about the leaf had to be its color. It was a light brown, just a shade lighter than that cardboard one finds at the center of a toilet paper roll. It was contrast by darker vein like lines that ran like an interstate map throughout the leaf. The leaf was dead, surprising for late August, but it was nonetheless beautiful.