Summer has drifted into Autumn as quickly as the sun sets or the puddles dry up. Our lives are lived day by day but the seasons sweep us up and carry us along at such a pace. This morning I got back out on the front veranda for my coffee and journal time and to spend a few minutes reading the days of July. In preparation for Hurricane Teddy I had taken off the cushions moved the furniture against the wall, taken the hanging baskets down and while doing all that I wondered if my veranda time was over for this year. But this morning I put the cushions back out and rehung the fuchsias which are still growing and blossoming. Summer is over and the colors of fall are increasing. On Saturday it will be two years since Mom left us and on yesterday’s walk I felt that loss deep in my soul along with the days of decline last September gave to Dad. The way the slant of the sun, the temperature of the air and the essence of a season can conjure up memory is astounding. Without even being aware you suddenly realize your soul is processing the deep emotion that is usually stored away. Instantly you can be right back to the moments of the past that challenged and stretched your emotional resilience. This morning as I wrote in my journal I wrote ” Fill my basket with gratitude” as a deliberate effort to put my blessings in the forefront on this beautiful gift of a day. So that I will do; my health, the health and well being of my family, the friendship and support of my loved ones, my five wonderful grandchildren, my home and place, my work, memories and the love of the people who have gone before me, food, clean water, and so on and so on. And I am grateful for the moments I spent back on my front veranda looking out at my peaceful ,imperfect, beautiful farm on this another September day I have been given.
