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
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