Parable of the Pumpkins

I saw four people and a dog as I exited the grocery store late this afternoon. The two young men were hefting huge pumpkins for the approval of an older and a younger woman, and I assumed that they were choosing one to take home and carve. I had another errand to run in the shopping center, and you can imagine the rise of my eyebrows as I headed home a few minutes later and saw them walking with four enormous pumpkins and the dog. 

They had divvied the load with the youngest guy carrying two, one in each arm, and the other guy and the young woman with their arms wrapped around one; the senior member of their group had the dog. They were laughing, but when I stopped at a stop sign, I noticed them stop, too. When I drove past, one of the pumpkins was rolling in the grass and another was set on the sidewalk. 

I watched them redistribute their cargo: the same guy had two of the pumpkins, but now he carried one under his arm and another by the stem. I was captivated by their progress as they lumbered forward, and when I had stop again at an intersection, I watched in my sideview mirror as the one-pumpkin dude took the leash so that the older woman could relieve the other guy of the smaller (but still huge!) pumpkins. 

I debated making a U-turn and going back to offer a ride to one or two of them and relieving them of their burdens, but when the light changed, they were still laughing and smiling, and, understanding that this was their journey, I made my turn and left them to make their own way.