Heart from Heaven

We have a river birch tree in our front yard, and river birches tend to drop their leaves early. Our front yard is covered with leaves under the tree, except for a bizarre patch that is devoid of leaves. It was puzzling, so after several days my mom decided to check it out. She came back in to say that the bare patch was heart-shaped. And it so happened to be my mom's birthday, so she said that it was a birthday card from my dad (who died 15 years ago). He always did love hearts. He even wanted a heart-shaped headstone, but my mom (who is not crazy about hearts) put her foot down since it will one day bear her name, too.

The weird thing is that the bare patch has lasted more than a week, even though we've had some windy, rainy weather. I was sure some leaves would be covering the heart-shaped area yesterday after the storm we had Monday night, but when we looked out the window Tuesday morning it was still there, still heart-shaped and still bare. Coincidence? Maybe, but I don't think so. :)