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published on 12/08/2005
Hats off….to the Fall
By
sigmtn.com staff writer
I was driving home from work and followed a car that was “splashing” leaves all over the road. It reminded me of waves, some flying three or four feet high. I wondered if my car was doing the same thing. And all this time the leaves were falling like rain only showering us with thousands of colors of gold, red, orange, brown, and yellow. It’s Fall and it’s warm and it’s beautiful and what more can I say?
I took a walk around the block late one evening just before dusk. I wasn’t the only one out walking. I passed a couple holding hands, children popping wheelies in their driveways on their bicycles, a mother pushing a stroller with a toddler sleeping, and a teenager walking her dogs and then stopping to talk to a friend who was babysitting a preschooler and had gone for a walk. The best part about the walk were the smells – new wood on a house being remodeled, fresh dirt on land being cleared, and dinner being cooked in houses with open windows enjoying the unusually warm temperatures. Earlier that day, I took my granddaughter for a walk in her stroller. At five-and-a-half months, she can’t sit up yet but reclining in the stroller she reveled in the walk. About halfway around the block, I noticed that she had raised both her arms up over her head, closed her eyes and smiled. Like riding a roller coaster with no hands holding on, she was thoroughly enjoying the walk.
Basketball sign ups, tackle football, soccer games, school sports, Fall fundraisers, new officers in organizations – a lot happens in the Fall. I think we have the thrill of the leaves changing so we can adjust to the long winter months, but also to raise our spirits and dance like the falling leaves as we enter the next season. Plays, band performances, more fundraisers, holiday parties, shopping, art shows, holy days, frost, and lots of soup to keep us warm; all symbols of the beginnings of Winter.
One thing I won’t miss about the end of Fall is the sound of the acorns and nuts falling. Is it just me, or did there seem to be an exorbitant amount this year? The trunk of my car will never be the same now covered in tiny little dents. But I am assured that the millions of acorns covering my lawn will not grow into trees but will need to be gathered, some by the squirrels, and the rest by us as we rake the lawn. But I don’t plan to do it too soon. Right now the beauty of the leaves is too special. Tomorrow I want to sit on my front porch in my rocker and watch the sun rise over the house across the street and with it see the colors of Fall come to life in the beauty of the mountaintop that we are all so blessed to live on.
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