It was a little before seven this morning and Tim and I were standing in our kitchen. Even though we had gotten up to darkness, the sun had long broken through and was dancing between the leaves outside.

Upon hearing shouting I wandered to the sliding glass door that overlooks our small deck. Beyond the deck and in the common area there was a man in a bright orange shirt, the kind you wear if you are working in construction or along highways. I’ve seen him outside before, though I could not tell you his name, or anything about him beyond the fact that he has a small dog, in whose company I always see him. This morning the dog lingered just out of reach as the man attempted to coax him back to his house. The more the man pleaded with the dog, the further away the dog scurried and the angrier the man got. It wasn’t long before the man was shouting obscenities to the heavens and that pitiful little beast took off into the woods. I watched the man as he dove into the tree line after him, the air punctuated with his angry tirade and his bright orange shirt bobbing in and out of sight. He emerged empty handed and defeated, tossed one last insult on his charge and marched toward his house, stopping to rest on some steps. He glanced up and our eyes met for just a moment.

I looked away, embarrassed to have been caught witnessing his outburst, but perhaps eye contact was what was needed, because the shouting came to an abrupt end. I’m not sure if he gave up on the dog, or if the dog got lonely and wandered home but a few minutes later the man was gone. I breathed a sigh of relief that my children missed the colorful display, but I also felt a twinge of sadness for this man I’ve never met and the weight he was so clearly carrying.

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Mommy, farms are not as big as trees. Big E pronounced from the back seat with authority.

Actually, farms are much bigger than trees. 

No, they aren’t. Trees are bigger…

And thus began the long conversation about the size of trees versus the size of farms, a conversation that carried us halfway to the sitters house and left us both confused. In the end, I never could convince Big E that trees were smaller, even as we drove past acres of farm land dotted with trees!