september Archives %- – Rock The Wrinkle

Fall in 2020

Early morning cool as you wave to someone across the street

Leaves starting their journey

Soft jackets with stubborn zippers that match your mask

Football games on televisions with masked cheerleaders

Squirrels getting busier

Chili peppers teasing your nose

Pumpkin carving at a safe distance

New pencils and sharp crayons on the kitchen table

Meeting new characters on television (including teachers)

Early blanket of darkness

Elk are bugling

Socks and sweatshirts and face guards and hand sanitizers

Warm cider and hot tea

A different light in the afternoon

Airing out the quilt and wanting to get underneath it until the election is over

Reading the Farmer’s Almanac

Stocking up on essentials but not buying all the TP on the shelf

Summer’s last gasp and yet it is hard to remember the last 3 months

Laughing by the fire pit at least 6 feet apart

Praying for exhausted doctors, nurses, EMTs

What is Fall for you? A time of exciting new beginnings? Or painful memories from years gone by? Does the cool air energize and inspire you, or do you wish summer’s warmth would linger? Of course you may live somewhere that offers high temperatures year-round. If so, what does the change of season mean to you?

I’ve always viewed the fall with mixed emotions. As a child, it was the whole back-to-school thing. Then it was the back-to-campus thing during college. Then you “become an adult” and school calendars no longer rule your life. Yet now in this crazy age, I truly sympathize with how a global pandemic has interfered with all the traditions of returning to school, no matter the age. For children, for young people, for teachers, for parents.

I do hope we can hold on to what is good about Fall.

I think it’s always been a time to go inward and be still. Changing leaves. Gorgeous sunsets. A slowing down and taking care.

Now as I am much older, Fall is also symbolic of how quickly things change. How life passes before we’re ready.

Losing an amazing person like Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a strong reminder. She didn’t sit around and wait for things to change. She changed them. And she didn’t stop when she grew older. What an inspiration! We owe it to her to stay active, involved, and engaged in what is going on in this world.

We owe it to her to VOTE for decency, honesty, fairness, integrity, intelligence, and empathy—things that must be brought back to the White House if we are to survive. Because the time to do so is NOW.

We don’t live forever. We can make plans and look ahead but we must not let time get away from us. We need to take the trip today, tell someone we love him or her today, have dessert first today.

We should not “postpone our joy”.

Fall is a new season. But I think inside, it’s also our cue to pull the blanket around us and warm up to our lives.

Luckily, as boomers, we have a lot of kindling.

“There is a pearl in every season. Find it. Then give all you have to claim it.”

Joan Sauro

“I would like to be remembered as someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability.”

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

September is self-improvement month.

Uh oh. That could be trouble. Or it could be lots of fun.

I’d really like to hear from some of you what you might choose as a goal. Or are you thrilled with the way you are? Let us all know.

For me, it’s already started. I recently completely emptied my closet out and started over. Donated, re-organized, cleaned, re-thought. Wow, did that feel good.

But then, that’s my closet. It’s not me.

So then, I cleaned out three kitchen drawers. Threw away bizarre gadgets that some alien from outer space must have put there (because I have no memory of them). Emptied, cleaned, re-organized.

So that’s an improvement, right? Oh yeah…. those are drawers. Not me.

Guess I have to really look at myself. Am I too set in my ways? Too easily talked into over-indulging in bad food and good wine? Too ready to curse at a clueless driver?

Check, check, and check. Guess I need to work on that.

And how many times a day do I go out of my way to help another person? To smile at a stranger? To cheerfully assist a client who is giving me a migraine? To not sigh in disgust when I watch a political commercial?

Geesh. Will a month be long enough to tackle these character defects?

What about the good things…maybe this is a great time to learn a new hobby. Make a new friend. Volunteer in a new place. Start a new habit that helps the universe.

As boomers and beyond, we’ve spent a lifetime reading self-improvement books. We were around when Evelyn Wood wanted us to read Shakespeare at 500 mph. And Norman Vincent Peale told us to think positively. We learned how to be our best friend.

We worked out. Tuned in. Dropped out. Came back, with a slight limp.

Every night there’s a program on television telling us how to become richer, thinner, and healthier. It’s great, but it can be overwhelming. After all, we’ve already worked our whole lives, raised families, cared for parents, and endured any number of health concerns, tragedies, and heartbreaks.

And now they want us to give up Cheetos and sitting on the couch. Dang.

Instead, why not think about something very small, but very important you could do that would make you feel better about who you are? After all, you deserve to be the best you can—and you deserve to enjoy your life.

You’re older. Wiser. But could you be better? Let us know. And keep rockin’ those wrinkles!