Even though my right foot was still painful from extensor tendonitis (which sounds imaginary), I put on shoes and walked outside. Though it was October, the day was warm, even though a patchwork of billowing clouds covered the bright blue sky. Along the east, the hills bordering this place already presented a palette of colors.

Turning right, a younger girl who probably wasn’t supposed to be smoking cut along the sidewalk. I imagined that my presence was unexpected, and she repeatedly turned to see if I was overtaking her. She puffed on her cigarette as if it would be snatched from her at any moment.

Nearing one of the two main entrances of the subdivision, the smell of marijuana hit me. I’d smelled it before in that stretch. The surprised me again, given that a police officer lives in that area.

As many people have noted, music can be chaotic after you’ve experienced a loss. It sometimes magically rips the curtain away, the one that beguiles you into dropping your guard. Nevertheless, I marched along as best as possible while trying to avoid scrunching my foot protectively as I walked. Most people claim to find walking and sentimentality mutually exclusive; you can’t trust that sort of folk.

I live in one of those efficient neighborhoods with community mailboxes. This roughly translates to mean that everyone is annoyed. It certainly doesn’t help the mail person put the mail in the correct boxes. If I’m feeling nice, I pick up the mail slotted incorrectly and tossed carelessly on the long horizontal top of the run of boxes and deliver it personally to each house. The last time I did so, someone had a credit card, and another person’s unemployment paper was there.

Though anticipating nothing, I delightfully discovered that a solitary friend sent me a sublimely personal card, one anchored on the ridiculous sort of note that fits me perfectly.

I laughed, smiled, and walked with a pronounced enthusiasm for the remainder of the day. Thank you.

P.S. I chose the picture because it is one of the opposite side of the road, bordering the town’s limits. It is the embodiment of entropy and decay. It has just as much of a claim to be representative of fall as the colorful foliage always mentioned.