Autumn Meanderings

I went out and shopped for Fall decorations so my house will look festive for Thanksgiving. (See my lame & banal attempt on left...) I feel like I am losing a lot of my creativity and my mind can only come up with tired ideas. I need a change of scenery.

Whenever the "ber" months sweep by, I am always beset by a certain melancholy. The dropping of the temperature probably does that. All of a sudden, I have a sudden yearning to sip a mug of smooth, hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows by the fireplace while I get cozy under a plump woolen blanket and watch a mindless movie on the telly. Next week, we turn our clocks back for daylight-savings time. I think it's stupid that we do this. This means that by 3:30pm, it'll be dusk and dreary. Egadz. Who thought of that? (It's 3 days later and I just found out that daylight saving time was instigated by....egadz....Benjamin Franklin!)
All things have seasons and cycles. I do find that truth absolutely amazing. If one would just sit down and think about it, (woops, I am thinking again!) inevitably, one would feel the presence of Deity. It is a perfect concept. There are an endless array of cycles in the world above, below and in us that beg observation and pondering.

Last week, we met with our financial planner. It was jarring to suddenly be faced with some realities that we know about but can't necessarily relate to: aging, mortality, death. The reality is, either Kurt or I will eventually experience losing the other. That eventually had to be addressed. In the back of my mind, I couldn't accept that this will happen. Not may happen---will happen. And yet, I see cycles happening all round me that prove this inevitability.

While having lunch yesterday with my best friend, we prattled about cosmetic procedures. Then she said that I shouldn't wait until I'm 60 to get it done. 60! That sounds so old and unreachable. But I'm 50 now and it sure went fast. Time to call the doctor.

I don't believe that the best opportunities happen only in youth---that our futures are made and set by the choices that we make in our youth. I believe that every season is full of a thousand opportunities. Age brings wisdom to those to seek it and opportunities for change and reinvention still do exist even at 50...and I anticipate the same at 100....or even at the moment that I take my last breath. This I know is true because with every breath we take, there is an opportunity for insight, understanding and clarity. Pure knowledge can happen in the twinkling of an eye... and that knowledge can be elusive in other seasons when, for instance, we get too busy grabbing life's gifts and experiences in our youth. There is much to look forward to.