Fall Afternoon Musings

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 think about the innocent joy of a small child, just perfecting her walking skills enough to bend and pick up, one at a time, the fallen leaves on our deck.  She carries them to the railing and carefully drops them to watch them flutter to the ground below.  She turns and I see the thrill in her little round face, her mouth a perfect oval of amazement that becomes a smile.  I am renewed by that smile, given hope by the innocence.

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."

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."