A leaf floats downward, released from the hard work of summer. But there is a stop along the way, a moment of suspended animation when the leaf dances with the butterflies, twists in the wind, makes friends with the bumblebee who gives the leaf a final blessing.

The winds carry us until they don’t. All it takes is a crosswind to buoy us indefinitely. All it takes is a crosswind to let us down without ceremony. But the webs of others can soften our fall, give us one last chance to be ensconced in the earthly world above ground before joining the fungi and bacteria and nematodes and other tiny organisms that sprang us to life. How will we spend those unexpected moments, floating on silken threads and stuck on a flower, when the world hands us not a do-over but a new opportunity?

I will say thank you, Tree, for holding on to me for so long. Thank you, Sun, for feeding me. Thank you, Bee, for keeping me company. Thank you, Spider, for threading the needle and connecting one plant to another to me. Thank you for welcoming me home.