Going into Fall

This is a lovely time of year. The end of summer and the beginning of fall. The kids are going back to school, commuting patterns are returning to normal, school buses replace families traveling hither and yon throughout the summer days of sun and freedom.

The heat of summer is mostly over; some hot days remain and they sometimes surprise us with their fury. But their grip on us is shortened. Cooler breezes are felt from time to time during the day. And the sun’s rays seem to have less sting.

Then we spot the leaves on trees being a bit less green. Not quite as vivid and deep a green as they were just a week or so ago. A tinge of yellow has brightened their skin and soon we know much more yellow will magically appear.

Suddenly blotches of orange and red will pop into view. That’s when we know for sure that autumn is coming. But not yet.

No, for now the days are slowly shifting into soft warm air that embraces rather than buffets. Humidity levels fall a bit more. The air is not dry but not damp either. It is caring and balmy against the skin. Gentle, too. The temperatures drop from the spiking 90’s into the tolerable 80’s. More and more the 70’s are evident and they keep us comfortable and yearning for the soothing days.

Leaning into fall is the way I like to think of it. Tipping our expectations toward cooler weather that is easier to prosper in. Harshness is not an adjective associated with fall. As winter approaches autumn’s adieu we expect frosts and sharp breezes anticipating icy mornings. But not yet. No, we are still in summer and its waning evidence. Now toward fall and its blessings.

At it’s end fall presents us with a landscape cleared of leaves and flowers. Instead we have the promise of quiet still nights with cold air, shifting weather fronts and the possibility of pure white snow. And Thanksgiving and the build up to Christmas. Fall is not all bad.

It used to be a sad time for me. I loved spring with its promise of new life and fresh green meadows. Summer was the time of warmth and freedom of travel and warm sun basking the skin. So enjoyable was summer that fall was a threat to happiness.

With leaves drying up, curling and falling to the ground, fall represented death of all that is green and filled with life. Fall was the foreboding of winter’s icy grip and discomfort. Later in life I came to appreciate the changing of the seasons. It is not of hope and expectations. Now it is a time of reflection and understanding. A time to rejoice difference and variety. A time to embrace all the things we have in life that are good.

The bad in life always gets its voice. It is heard and felt. But with an armory of good feelings and gratitude for the good things in life, the bad are snuffed out.

A strong argument for balance in life. Time brings that into view. Experience, too. We appreciate the little things so much more. The big have been in our lives. Now it is the smaller things that have their due.

Like life waning into yet a newer chapter we realize the value of what was so that we can now capture the value of what is.

And we are grateful for that.

August 30, 2016