Photo: Mary van Balen
On the last two mornings of September I walked with a friend along paths that wended through her property. New England Asters, golden rod, bindweed, and bittersweet splashed color across fields of browning green grasses and dark stalks that once held summer flowers. Fog hung hundreds of spider webs with crystal drops revealing the variety of design: some webs lay close to the ground, others hung between tall grasses. Later, we sipped tea and ate a breakfast of dates, nuts, and thin toast with butter. A perfect way to say good-bye to summer and September.
This morning I woke to a clear blue sky brushed with a few thin white clouds. My sister from Michigan had been visiting, and after she left I decided to enjoy the first October morning by sitting on the wooden bench swing in the back yard, skimming grass tips with the soles of my feet while slowly eating a Heath Klondike ice cream bar. Ah.
Thich Nhat Hanh would have approved. I savored every bite, letting the smooth ice cream melt in my mouth and paying attention to the taste of toffee chocolate coating. The rest of the day was split between errands, phone conversations with a fiend recuperating from by-pass surgery and a late evening cookout with one of my daughters, washing down hamburgers and baked beans with the season’s first apple cider.
October feels especially invigorating this year: Mirroring nature’s change, my life is moving from one season to another, and I am ready. Facing an unknown future, I feel like I am walking into crisp, cool air. My energy level is higher than it has been for a year.
Looking at leaves beginning to turn into gold, I remember that life is a cycle and that death is really the beginning of new life. I look forward to the new season in nature and in my own journey.
As you observe the changes around you and feel cool air slip over your skin, give thanks for life that grows of out of death in our world and in our souls, even if its roots sink deep into pain. October speaks eloquently: Change, and life are good. Celebrate them both!
© 2010 Mary van Balen
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