The leaves are turning, the days are getting shorter, and the temperature is dropping, in other words, it’s autumn. You’d think that after forty some years on the planet, I’d be used to the turning of the wheel of the year and wouldn’t get so excited about the chill in the air and the bouquets of leaves, but no, I’m just as excited about fall this year as ever.
Despite the similarities, each year the fall is slightly different: the leaves turn sooner or later, the colors are more or less brilliant, the weather is warmer or cooler. In many years, the return of autumn is like visiting an old friend that you haven’t seen in awhile: the subtle differences accentuate the familiarity. Autumn is a scientific process, but all the variables combine to make each fall blissfully different.
It’s not only the leaves and weather that are different each year either, we’re different because we’re at different places in our lives. Marriage, divorce, job changes, kids born, kids gone to college, parents moved away or passed away. As I look back through the Halloween pictures of past years, I remember where we were and realize how far we’ve come. There’s the earliest photos of Caitlin as Barney the dinosaur, Sean as a pirate (this was before he discovered Batman) through the years of Sean as Batman and Caitlin as a mummy and a hippy alien. Then there was the year that Sean bucked tradition and wore a Cubs outfit his dad had crafted for him.
All the changes in our life aren’t positive. This is the first year in quite a few years that when Halloween rolls around a family members name will top our annual “Dead List.” My father passed away last Thanksgiving and it’s hard to realize that it’s been almost a year since he’s gone. The world has also lost a few shining luminaries this year: Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and more. As I work to compile the Dead List in the next few weeks, I’ll remember again how many talented people the world has lost.
Cairn by Cairn 