There is a coolness in the air, golden hues in the trees and a joy on children’s faces as they run through falling leaves. Summer has slipped into autumn. The days are shorter, the nights are cool, crops are harvested, parties are planned, there is soup on the stove, bread in the oven, pie on the sill and smiles on the faces of passers-by.
There is a promise of plenty: rain to fill the streams, nuts, grains and fruit to fill the pantry. There is a promise of time: time with family, time with friends, time to pause and give thanks, time to enjoy the beauty that surrounds us before the cold and bare of winter.
Squirrels are busily burying nuts and lining their nests. Bears are foraging and shopping for caves. Turtles are slowing from their warm summer pace, birds are flying south, and flowers and trees are sending their seeds to find new homes before the sleep of winter. Change is in the air.
Autumn is, to me, an invitation. I sit at my desk as a branch taps the sill, “Can you come out and play?” It seems a perfect chance to take a run, walk through the park or through the town, meet a friend for lunch, ride my bike, shuffle through leaves, or simply be, with the wind in my hair and the sun on my face. Outside, the wind swirls the leaves through the sunlight; red and gold, green and brown, light and shade. There is great joy in the breeze. “It is autumn. Come out and play.”
Isabella Stewart