Seasons Come and Seasons Go

I love snow and winter and the chill in the air!!

It excites me that there is a predictability to the seasons, one coming neatly behind the next- fall, winter, spring, summer and around it goes on and on and on. Nobody can change the pattern, say if they are not in a good mood, "well, this year, winter is OFF." "We are having two summers and that's that!!" I like that about God. He set the seasons in motion and the Northeast USA shows the four distinct seasons very nicely.

I have heard that there are seasons in a woman's life. [Maybe a man too but how would I know about such things when the woman's world is my domain and occupies most of my free time?] The Springtime is during those youthful days , school, college,careers and families beginning. Life is simple and good.

Summer brings on the middle years when kids are in school and days are full and hectic, health is sound and rarely is a doctor seen. Life is Full.

Fall comes knocking at your door when you least expect it- the kids are finally grown and leaving the house(we hope) and the mind still in command, is noting that the body is not really responding as it used to. "Get out of bed legs and feet!" "Well hold on , we need to be careful , we don't seem to be working that well and oh,by the way, it hurts down here!" Life is Unpredictable.



Wintercozies up real friendly and fun, kind of like that first lovely snowfall we had this week. Wow! It's snowing! Yippee! Get out the shovels and mittens and hats! "Why do people complain about the cold,?" we wonder, in our mindless forgetful way. Has it been a mere 250 days or so and we should forget the ice storms that knock down the power lines? or possibly have we not had memories still chilling our bones at the recall of shoveling when the blizzard winds are whipping around our very cold faces? What is wrong with us?

I think old age kind of creeps up like that first snow , but believe me, I am having enough trouble with Fall, I can barely imagine Winter! The interesting thing is that since life is seasonal and predictable, I will have to imagine it when a few more years race by. I won't have a choice, unless I am called to an eternal destination sooner than the 'average' gal.

Fall is so dreary, pretty leaves changing to dried up brown ones, falling into piles and blowing all over the place. Gardens look ragged and run down no matter how much effort and mulching you did in the summer. My neighbor spends HOURS in her garden, pruning and tending and purchasing and raking , all to discover in the fall that both of our lawns look exactly the same!It must frustrate her since all Summer I sit reading on my front porch, cup of coffee in hand with a casual wave if I see her.I have spent no money and little effort to attain my 'natural' look. As an aside, are you hearing the parallels to age and the reasons stacking up on why I also am not seen at the gym every night like my young friend Leigh who goes and works out for THREE hours a night??



Remember now, I love winter, so for a person like myself, what is ahead is the exciting part, I hope. In the interim I am doing a little pruning in my garden.

The earlier years were spent gathering and collecting things. In the Spring and Summer seasons I gathered friends like prized possessions, not wanting any to slip away through my heartstrings of love. I wrote Christmas cards and letters, I remembered birthdays, I not only knew my friends special dates, but their children's as well, and pretty often their mother's made my lists! I collected books, making me a wannabe bibliophile. I collected piggy banks and Brasilian memorabilia, and saved all of my 7 children's report cards, with notes and paperwork and tests. For crying out loud I even had completed Baby Books for each one! Now really, who do you know that even knows there is such a beast in today's parenting world?

That was then. In my Autumn season I am no longer gathering. I had noticed a few months ago that the need to return phone calls to old buddies, the desire to jot monthly notes and send pictures and cards, had kind of slipped by the wayside.My friend of 30 years was not really even on my call back list. I took note of it and thought perhaps the reason was a result of acquiring my full time job and settling into my routine as a single woman again. That doesn't explain however, the packing up and giving away of books and piggies and all things Brasilian (no, I am NOT referring to my husband , although he is pretty packed up). I no longer care to socialize at gatherings when I used to use them as occasions to Be Friendly! and more often than not I do not even attend the things!

The more time goes by , the more I am realizing and absorbing the fact that Fall has become a time of sorting and eliminating. Eliminating unnecessary things and people who are fine but just not a priority. Eliminating trips to the stores 'to shop', outings to meet friends 'for a bite to eat', notes and cards to 'keep in touch' with people who barely have the time to sign a Christmas Card once a year. Until I processed these ideas it was causing me alot of concern. What kind of person was I that I could just change some of the very essence of who I had been?

The latest and most spiritually terrifying part of my walk through my Fall has been church attendance. The faith and courage to stop going to church , to rest in the Lord's grace and mercy and eliminate the going because I had to and turn it somehow into the going because I want to. Now there is a chilly winter ahead if I don't figure out how to melt together my love of the Church, my love of the Lord and my need for understanding.

Deep Thoughts for a late Fall evening, so I think I will go grab a cup of milk and eat a piece of very fattening , non-healthy cheesecake my son Andrew just brought me. I sure wish I could sit on my front porch and wave to my neighbor because I am pretty sure she is on her way to the gym.