Fall is my favorite season.
I have always felt the magic of the leaves as they turn from green to an
array of yellows, reds, oranges and golds.
It is a season in which we retreat from the heat of summer in the South
to share cooler weather and the spirit of holidays from Halloween through
Christmas to the New Year. Though I'm
not much of a football fan, I still love the way family and friends gather to
watch the games together, cheering through the wins, bemoaning the losses. Fall seems to me like an annual winding down time
to gather around the fire and hunker down into the slumber of winter in
anticipation of the rebirth of spring.
It's the season that suits me best.
This fall is less restful.
Our country is in a time of political turbulence that I can't remember
since the 60's. We are a people
divided. That's not a new thing as we
are so diverse and ever-changing, rarely in lock-step unless attacked from
without by storm or threat of war. What
seems new is the vitriol, the viciousness in the expression of our differences. This week it's pipe bombs, but there have
been too many disturbing stories, too many hurtful and hateful times over the
past year. It's disheartening.
So I turn away from the hatred to think of those things that
I love, the people and the moments that inspire me and bring balance to my
brain and nurturing peace to my soul.
I enjoy the moment in the bookstore with an 8-year-old who
loves to read and, though often a child of few words, speaks excitedly when we
find two books by one of his favorite authors that he has not yet read. His eyes are alight and he begins to read one
of the books as we wait in line to pay for them. I am reminded of my own love of reading and I
am reassured that this young one is filling his mind with the words that will
spur his imagination and love of learning.
His excitement continues when we get a coupon for a free cookie at the
bakery. Life is not just about books and
he's a kid who loves sweets. We have a
good afternoon and I have a special memory to cherish of our time together,
made even better with the lingering scent of the ginger cookie he chose.
Happiness is just a click away on a rainy Saturday as I
return to the playlist of music that reminds me of days long gone, the parties
that old favorite songs filled with fun and dancing to exhaustion. I can almost
smell the smoke of those days when we didn't know that smoking would take such
a toll. I can savor again the taste of
rum and Coke, the drink of choice long before we could imagine a taste for the
wine that supplanted it. I remember the
bell bottoms, the mini-skirts that scandalized my father, the long hair that
fell into my face in the exuberance of the dancing. It seems funny to me now that I am accessing
these old favorites on my laptop when we heard them on our stereo, sometimes
causing the needle to jump if there were enough people bouncing the floor with the
frenzy of the dance.
As I listen to the music, one of my favorites from the
Youngbloods plays. Its refrain seems apropos
for this time: "Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now."
Right now."
Recorded by the
Youngbloods and released in 1966, "Let's Get Together" had been
performed by the Kingston Trio as early as 1964 and recorded on the first
Jefferson Airplane album in 1967. But it
is the Youngbloods version that has
lasted, used in a number of movies, most notably "Forrest Gump." For
me, it brings to mind the anguish of the Vietnam era , a confusing time when
many Americans questioned our government's decisions, a time something like
today.
I will vote my conscience on
November 6 as I hope many others will. My
rainy day musings end with a hope that we will come through these difficult
times to a better place where we can "get together."
