The next morning I woke up in a much better mood, and surprisingly my appetite had returned. I was absolutely famished for the first time in weeks and decided to take Puppy Don out for a walk so I could get a breakfast burrito at the outdoor kiosk near the park. After buying the food, I walked with him into the park and noticed that the weather was beginning to change. There was a faint chill in the air that hinted at the seasons to come, and I was surprised by how different the leaves looked.
I hadn’t been to the park in a few weeks, and as we walked on the wood-chip trail, I was in awe of all the brilliant shades of orange and yellow that adorned the branches above. The park was bursting with color, as fall was definitely in full swing. And as soon as we approached the creek, we could see the fallen leaves floating on the shimmering water like lazy canoes.
Robert wasn’t far from my thoughts that morning, and everything seemed to remind me of him. I found myself staring at the base of a large oak tree, and I watched as its yellowed leaves pulled themselves away from the branches that had held them in safety for many months and gracefully floated to the ground to be near their recently departed friends. I reflected on the humble grace with which Robert had departed the night before and felt honored to have witnessed such a profound ceremony.
As I watched the leaves fall to the ground, I instinctively caressed Puppy Don’s ears and felt my fingers brush against the braided collar around his neck. My tears threatened to return as my emotions from the previous night began to bubble up again, but I quickly forced myself to feel grateful that our paths had crossed, no matter how briefly. Robert had made a huge impact on me in a short amount of time, and I knew in my heart that I would meet up with him again in the future.
I was feeling less sure than I had been the previous night about whether I wanted to stay on Earth or move on to the spirit world. I was fortunate to know about my work on the spirit plane, and I knew that I would be blessed with a family if I remained on Earth. But I wasn’t sure which was more significant in the grand scheme of the universe. When I was alone with my quietest thoughts, I was confident that Autumn would be much more powerful spiritually than I could ever hope to be. Yet the question remained: How can I make the most positive impact with my life?
When we reached the end of the lower duck pond, I saw Robert’s drawstring bag lying on top of a pile of leaves under a small maple tree. He must have abandoned it in the park before he left the previous night. I couldn’t help myself from picking it up, and after a few seconds I instinctively untied the tattered string and peeked inside. There were several cardboard signs lettered in Robert’s distinctive scrawl. I counted seven in total, and pulled each one out and carefully laid it on the lawn in front of me. Each sign was nearly identical to the next and had a single word floating in the center:
Yes.
“Typical!” I exclaimed aloud after inspecting both sides of each sign, hoping in vain to find another word hidden somewhere. Robert never seemed to answer any of my questions in a straightforward manner, and even after he left, he was as cryptic as ever.
I sat down on the lawn with the seven cardboard signs surrounding me, and I heard Robert’s voice whisper, “Fill your heart with ‘Yes’ and you will make the right decision.” I turned around, expecting to once again look deep into his water-blue eyes, but there was nobody nearby. I glanced down at Puppy Don—his ears were perked, and he was wide-awake for the first time since Robert had left the night before.
Suddenly, a low-flying raven came from behind us and sailed around the bend. As the sound of the flapping wings rushed past us, Puppy Don jumped up and chased after the bird. I hadn’t seen the puppy move that quickly ever before. I ran after him, and as I turned the corner, he scampered up to a woman with long blonde hair wearing a knee-length light blue sweater. As I got closer, I recognized her as Madisyn with a y from Martika’s dinner party.
“Hi!” I said.
“Hello, Lunar Boy. You have such a cute puppy,” she said while gently caressing the side of his face. “What’s his name?”
“Don.”
She furrowed her brow. “He doesn’t like that name anymore. He needs a much more distinguished one. How about Onyx? Do you like that, Onyx?”
Onyx jumped into her arms and started licking the side of her face while wagging his tail in agreement.
“I think he likes it,” I laughed. And as I looked down at the eager puppy, I noticed that something looked different. Something was missing.
“His collar is gone.” I tried to remain calm, but my panic began to show as I started searching on the ground for the red braided necklace.
“He doesn’t need a collar,” Madisyn said with a smile. “We all know who he is, don’t we, Onyx?”
Onyx wagged his tail and let out a short, happy bark.
“Are you settling in to Ashland yet?” I asked.
“Yes, I am. I found a house just a few blocks from here, and I love it. It’s filled with light, and it’s great to be able to get to the park so quickly. I’m such a fan of nature, and being with the trees every day fills me with joy.”
The three of us began walking on the path together, enjoying a comfortable silence, as if we’d all known each other for many lifetimes. And for some reason, it felt like we actually had. The soft sounds of nature melded effortlessly with those of our footsteps, and I felt for the first time in my life that everything was exactly as it should be, and as it always was. We continued to explore the lesserknown trails at the far end of the park, and as we made our way up a steep hill, we came to a large tree that had recently fallen across the path.
Madisyn gracefully found the easiest way to navigate around it, and without ceremony said, “There are no straight lines in nature.”
“Where did you read that?” I asked, wondering if she had known Robert also.
“I didn’t read it anywhere. It was a vision I had as a little girl, and I’ve always held it dear to my heart.”
Out of nowhere a familiar bright blue dragonfly flew down from the sky and landed on Madisyn’s golden locks. It stopped fluttering its wings and steadied itself on tiny fairy legs with her every step.
“You have a fairy on your head,” I smiled.
“Those are my peeps.” She laughed as she extended her index finger and raised it to the top of her head so the dragonfly could climb aboard. It sauntered onto her finger, and she casually brought it between us so we could get a better look. The dragonfly posed for a few seconds, then quickly flew up into the trees.
As Madisyn passed a clearing, the light beamed through the trees onto her beautiful hair, and the blondest strands began to glow. For the first time in years, I saw a glimpse of love on the horizon and realized that I had finally let Cheryl go.
Abruptly, Madisyn stopped in the middle of the path, gazed up to the trees, and said, “I love Autumn.”
I looked at her dumbfounded as truth bumps covered my entire body.
“I wish Autumn was here every day!” she exclaimed with her arms outstretched to the sky.
“Me, too,” I smiled. “Me, too.”