Well, the two officials bookends of summer – Memorial Day and Labor Day – have passed, and it’s time to start enjoying fall.
You know what comes after the fall, don’t you? That’s what they always ask me. Yes. This oft-dreaded season is coming whether you and I care or not. So stop bothering, will you? Take advantage of the fall to change.
When those leaves start falling here in a few weeks, my kids are going to be thrilled. The maple trees in our yard don’t disappoint, and my kids will have piles of leaves raked higher than the littlest’s eye line. They’ll jump and thrash, and eventually they’ll push each other aggressively enough that my wife or I had to say, Take it easy. We have fun here. Let’s not hurt anyone.
And when their fun is over, I’ll take a few cartloads of these leaves out into the garden, scatter them and burn them. It would be a shame, after all, if I didn’t have a good fertile bed to grow next year’s crop of amaranth and crabgrass.
My burning bushes turn to the tips. Soon they will be ablaze with the reddest red fall has to offer. It will be short, but beautiful.
And people expect me to worry that all of this means winter is coming. What a waste of a beautiful fall this would be.
A friend told me the other day that she was looking forward to weather jacket. This friend, Laura, shares my enjoyment of taking outdoor sports photos, and the weather so far has been a little too much. summer for his fall hobby. I had to agree with her.
I’ve been thinking about fall a lot lately. My feelings are always mixed: I love summer, and I can honestly say it’s my favorite season. Summer seems to take with it many of our fondest memories, moments that fill our minds. photo albums.
Summer is like our youth: it’s clear, warm and, as long as it happens, it seems to last forever. But when it’s over, we realize how quickly our lives have passed. Fall is the season that seems to come in the years of our middle age. As soon as the first autumn leaves fall, we start to feel like we’ve lost a step – I used to run faster, I could jump higher, I could stay up later – but our days are still pleasant and (with a jacket ) remain quite warm.
I know what the next step is. You don’t have to tell me. I don’t dread it and I don’t fear it. I’ll do what I’ve always done: I’ll put on my winter coat when the time is right, put on some gloves, and face the biting wind against my prominent pearl nose.
I spoke the other day with a friend of mine who is about to turn 98. He lives in an assisted living facility (a widower, he was independent at home until a few months ago). He spends his days honing his artistic skills, abilities he didn’t have time to practice in the summer of his life. He did what many of us do: he raised his children, worked as an educator and traveled as a pastor.
Now, during the winter of his time in this world, he does not live as freely as during his summer days. Following a stroke which affected his left side, he now depends on a wheelchair for his mobility. The snow is falling, but rather than despair and shiver, he puts on his coat – he reads, he paints in watercolor and he visits his neighbours.
winter is not summer. But the winter is part of our life – and what are we going to do with it? Are we going to waste it? Will we hate one season because it’s not as hot as the others?
Or will we enjoy the different seasons of our year and our lives?
Matt Pearl owns and operates newspapers in King City, Albany and Grant City.
