Autumn, then Winter

The Summer of 2011 ended a little less than a week ago.  The autumnal equinox occurred this year on the 23rd of September but our summer lasted two days more than the folks who printed up all the calenders were willing to let us enjoy.  It feels a little sneaky, in a good way, to cheat the calender - those extra two days before the start of this Autumn added some much needed summertime to our lives, lives already in an Autumn of their own. 

Saturday, the 25th day of September, dawned with a clear sky and before the Sun set that day the temperature reached an all time record high for that date of 94 degrees.  Certainly, a day like that qualifies as summer.  But that night a cold wind blew; it's cold breath killed summertime, and Sunday dawned with dark clouds and the temperature reached only 64 degrees before starting to fall during the evening. 

Some lives are like that - Autumn comes in a single day.  Others slip easily from Summer to Autumn over a much longer time, and the slow change goes unnoticed until one day you look in the mirror and see you've aged. 

Mine was the kind where Summer turned to Autumn in a heartbeat - one instant was Summer - the next instant was Fall.  I picked up a little more than I should have one glorious day and something slipped in my lower back.  Nothing has been the same since.  I quit walking during lunch hours - my footsteps jarred my back.  I stopped almost all exercise and soon weighed more than I did during my long Summer.  I could no longer twist and turn as I did before, everything in my body became stiff.

Carolyn's change to Autumn was of the second kind.  She easily coasted from forty to fifty and then to sixty - somewhere along the way her Summer turned to Fall, but an Indian Summer lingered in her life for much of that time.  Like everything else she did in life,  she aged with grace and style.  And, with a quick and joyful smile. 

This morning I walked from my door to the mail box and back.  As I walked from the house I faced the East, where the Sun had been earlier in the morning, and the sky was bright blue with several puffy white clouds.  The kind of sky you expect to see on a brisk Fall morning.  But then when I turned back to the West on my way home, the sky was dark.  Clouds - dark heavy ones - the kind that bring snow and ice to the still warm Earth,  were gathering over the mountains that define the boundary between Western and Central Oregon.

Those clouds were the clouds of Winter, and I did not expect them to appear in our skies for another several months.  But, there they were, knocking at our door and trying to turn the season to Winter long before we expected it.  Long before it was due.

And again I though of the similarity between the seasons and our lives.  Some of us transition quickly from Fall to Winter, others linger for a much longer time.  Now, Carolyn and I have reversed our roles.  She has started the journey towards those cold, dark Western clouds much sooner than I.  She has quickly passed from Fall to Winter, and her Winter will be a short one.  Much shorter than most.

The days are getting shorter now and this time of year thoughts turn to fireplaces and warm flames.  To walks among leaves that have fallen to the ground and the crackling sound of footsteps, yours and your loved one beside you, as the leaves beneath your feet are crushed.  One day it will happen to all of us.  We realize this year is different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSXYu-3r1S8

I can only hope my much longer Winter will be spent as gracefully as her long and joy filled Autumn.