Monday, October 04, 2010

An overdue welcome

Hello October! What took you so long to get here?  I know I know, the excruciatingly hot and sloth-like months of June and July wouldn't drag their behinds at a reasonable pace, and then Septemeber couldn't make up her mind whether she wanted to stay or go, but look at you, here you are.  I couldn't be happier to welcome you back.

I cherish how you remind me each year that it's the simple things in life that are the best, the little things that are big.  Just this past weekend at the cabin, I walked Cheyenne in the early morning hours of your sunrise.  There was a chill in the air and I wrapped my arms around myself, closed me eyes and took a slow and deep breath.  How wonderful your air felt in my lungs, your breeze on my cheeks.  I smiled as I recalled that soon I will hear the unforgettable cries of the snow geese on their way to warmer places, I'll see long check marks in the sky and I'll recall my father with such tenderness.  I smiled at the ever so slight browning of the leaves of the trees at the edge of the woods.

When you bring on the first full month on Autumn, I thrill at the changes I begin to observe in nature.  I delight in the browns and golds, the orange and reds, how each of nature's colors seems to become deeper in itself.  Like the colors, you always seem to bring me deeper in myself as well.  It's because your cool air allows me to spend more time out of doors, among the sounds of the wind in the trees, my bare feet in the grass, out amongst the busy squirrels and twittering birds, to hear sounds that are not made by man.  It is also because I habitually slow down in October, take more time to align myself with what gives me a sense of peace and grounding.  I take the long road home, wind myself through new streets on my morning walk, sit on the porch and watch the day's light give way to night. 

I heard an old song over the weekend, and the lyrics, Talk to God and listen to the casual reply.  October, you are those lyrics to me. You are God's casual reply.  You  give me a reminder to pause, to stand on the edge of the woods, be still for a moment, and simply take a deep breath. 

Welcome back my friend, welcome back.

1 comment:

ghost said...

i named a characters in one of my stories oktober because his personality reminded me of the fall.