Autumnal Equinox 2018

Welcome Fall!

Ed I hosted a summer solstice party this year for our humanist group, the Nest, and now our dear friends Drew and Greg take up the mantle welcoming fall at their place this evening.  We will have absolutely perfect weather to enjoy a lantern walk and some of our favorite foods as all who gather celebrate the upcoming season; my favorite!

Every year, my appreciation for all four of the seasons deepens.  Their symbolism resonates in the literatures I study, as well as on the events of my own life; the patterns are not only inescapable, but pleasantly predictable, and more often than not, welcomed.

Summer, to be sure, is a time for doing.  One of my goals this year was to contribute more to this blog as I have a cache of topics waiting to be explored.  But when the sun called, friends arrived, and projects manifested, sitting down to write and reflect was rightfully back-burnered.  Having a schedule-free household for weeks on end means a deep dive into time and experiences and events that might otherwise get short shrift.  This summer, I read, I created, I lingered, I visited, I volunteered, I cooked…and enjoyed the leisure of it all like never before.  I do struggle with not being able to shut things off and vowed this year would be different.  It was.

And consequently, now, I am.  For years, I have been asking the spin of the world to slow a bit.  And finally, it has.

Here, at autumn’s cusp, I look forward to the reflection it offers.  I anticipate the cooling of days.  The browning of gardens.  The lengthening of darkness.  The crispness of air.  The leaves falling—cloaking the ground in their nurturing, fragrant decay.  I welcome this, too, in my life.  I am recognizing the needs of folks around me who are in their “summers”.  I enjoy thinking about how much, how hard, how involved I was with everything I touched in my 30s… it is now their turn to shine—to run full-speed ahead, while I begin to sidestep out of their way to find my stroll on the shoulder. Oh sure, I have plenty of new projects, but somehow they feel more organic, as matters-of-course; fully integrated and not so peripheral.  Not a “reach for”, but an “extension of”.  And that part of my life’s autumn was not something I had expected.  My writer’s club at school begins this week.  And now that I see myself as more of a writer, I feel more at ease and confident.  My humanist group the Nest is meeting tonight without my planning or intervention.  It is as it should be.

All allowing for more time to reflect.  To prepare for the rest of winter, when the earth around me will harden and freeze protecting the life far beneath as I wait for spring and its budding promises.

To read more about the Autumnal Equinox, check out this article.