In one moment I heard that Penny the pony died.

A pony of my best friends niece, McKayla. Not only was the pony McKayla’s heart horse, but Penny was special to her sister, and Mom and Dad, too.

My heart aches for the young girl who now has to learn that part of loving an animal is the heartache of saying goodbye.

It’s just something one can never explain adequately to a young child.

And then I turned around and looked out into my front yard.

A leaf was dancing in the wind. As if it was suspended in mid air, not attached to anything.

It pulled me to it as I watched it softly sway in the early light of the morning and I got caught up in its beautiful ballet before me.

One moment my heart hurt for my young friend and in the next moment I was lifted into a magical place, as if suspended in time along with that leaf.

It didn’t occur to me until I walked back in the house, and turned, and the leaf was now gone, how this all tied into life.

Life is a dance with twists and turns, happiness and sadness along the way.

The world for McKayla likely looks small and sad right now grieving the loss of her pony friend.

But in time, she will find herself dancing again like the leaf – open to new wonders and new animal friends that will find their way into her heart.

And that’s the thing… no matter what life throws our way, to always remember that we can dance again.

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I put a short video up on Facebook of the dancing leaf. Come see. And if you look close enough, you just may see a fairy sitting upon it. 🙂

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