The little things taken Forgranted

A light but chilled breeze swept over the campus, as cotton candy like clouds stirred ever so slowly through the upper atmosphere. The hell hot sun of just two days past had now faded, giving way so the new crisp autumn air. The trees were shedding their summer coat of leaves in preparation for grandpa winter. But this was no ordinary day, for as that light breeze traversed the campus it carried with it something new, something special.

My lungs took a deep breath of the slow moving air, through my nose spurred a life time of memories……. A smell soo light it was almost air, but more powerful then a freshly run over skunk on 41, or the paper plants of Kimberly. A stench so common in the Wisconsin air of this time of year, my body had all but dismissed it during my last years at home.

Exhaling slowly, savoring every second of the odor, a plume of black smoke swirled upward towards in the sky like Chinese Dragon ascending into heaven, and for one brief second I almost forgot I was in Texas.

I took another deep gulp of the cold air so rich with the scent it sent shivers down my spine. I could even remember thinking at one time of past, that the smell would just go away. Memories of: Countless trolling pases, in search of the infamous “Moon Eyes” on Lake Winnebago. Endless Boy Scout Outings as the Tenderfeet practiced their new earned fireman chits. Trick or Treating in the snow, dressed as a Ring Raider. Watching the Eagles soar over Lake Lucerne, Or hay rides at the Little Farmer.


The smell of burning leaves terra-formed a busy college campus into the vast wilderness of Wisconsin.