Thoughts....Reflections....

  Although we must always move forward in life, our true understanding comes from reflecting back.  We learn through not only our experiences but also through our mistakes.  Son has a favorite saying that "Foresight is blind but hindsight has perfect vision."  Makes sense to me.  I don't know how many times I have wished something undone merely because my hindsight is far better than my foresight.  Reflecting back on the way things once were gives us the pleasure of a job well-done or the satisfaction of a lesson learned...the hard way.  Either way, while life has to be lived forward...we can only understand it when looking back.

  I was on the pier the other day and noticed that the little sapling of a Popcorn Tree had grown quite a bit.  The seed had been planted by a bird and sprouted right in the marsh edge.  I started to cut the tiny seedling down with the lawnmower but then had second thoughts. While these thoughts were leaning more toward "free firewood", I knew the tree would give us a bit of brightness come fall.  Now I am glad that I skipped over the tree when cutting the grass.  It, indeed, has given the Bayou a bit of much needed cheer.  This is one time that the foresight of not cutting the sapling was the best move.  Granted, some day the tree might very well be found warming the Little Bayou House by way of the old woodstove but for now it is just a happy thing to see while on the pier.

  At the very moment I was viewing the tree, I noticed the reflection in the still waters of the Bayou.  The colors were vivid...the image crisp...the reflection perfect.  It is funny but seeing the reflection in the water brought thoughts of the pond back on the farm.  During the fall, the Red Maple trees cast just such reflections on that water.  Mom always used to watch for the wood ducks to fly in for the winter as soon as she noticed the leaves changing their colors.  It was sort of a tradition for her to announce their arrival.  She loved those ducks!  While I found no ducks in the image on the water, I found Mom in my reflections of the past.