At home my car is parked under a big tree, so every morning in the fall it is covered with leaves. I just drive off without brushing them away, because I know that they will blow off by the time I get on the interstate.

But not this leaf, which I noticed wasn’t blowing off after the rest had all gone. It hung on all the way to work, flapping wildly as we cruised along at 70 mph. I could see it becoming more and more tattered as we traveled, and I was silently cheering for it to hold on all the way.

When I got out of the car in the parking lot, I found that the little knob on the end of the stem had gotten into a narrow opening that prevented it from flying off. Since it had made it all the way to work, I brought it in and taped it to my cabinet door. I think there is a lesson in this: Sometimes you find yourself in a situation you didn’t intend to be, and you just have to hang on and hope that when you get to the end you’ll be in one piece. And maybe along the way you will have a wild ride!