Of Pretty Leaves & Hairy Legs

Dear John,

 

Today was long, busy, and good at work. I spent half of it training Marcia and the other half getting my own work done. I still have a couple of hours of work left, so I'll be going in tomorrow for a while. I got home well after 6:00 tonight, and it was getting dark already. The days are getting shorter - soon I'll have to leave a light on for the animals.

 

The leaves are near peak now. When I was coming home, I came up the bridge over the tracks in Millersburg and looked out over downtown, and the trees were beautiful. It was gray and rainy, but it couldn't dim those leaves.

 

It's time for me to celebrate the fact that I won't have leaves to rake. For one thing, we get so much wind up here that our leaves don't stay in the yard. But leaves from locust trees and crabapples are too tiny to rake anyway, and leaves from the maple tree blow away. I'm enjoying the cooler weather. Like every fall, I was tired of my summer clothes. But the best thing about fall is that I can stop shaving my legs.

 

That's one of the few things that widows laugh about - they don't have to shave their legs anymore. I did in the summer, of course. But there's no point in shaving them after the weather gets cold. The animals don't care - their legs are a lot harrier than mine are, and they love me no matter what my legs look like. And I know you would, too. You always told me I didn't need to shave my legs on your account, but I did anyway. Be warned now - if you come for a visit, I will have hairy legs!

 

What did all the guys say when you told talked to them about visiting us without giving us nightmares? I'm sure they understood. We love it so much when we dream about you all. But since you're not here anymore and we can't talk to you about it, nightmares are hard to shake. We're all eager to see what you plan for your next visits to us!

 

Love you so, so much,

Joan.