Changing with the season

Fall is my favorite time of year. the air is fresh & crisp; the colors can be so invigorating. for me, I welcome the end of the hot days, since I'm not one to love the summer sports. It seems that the sunshine is just cleaner in Fall--at least here in Kansas. I usually choose to take some vacation this time of year. I have just returned from two weeks and 3,600 miles in the Rocky Mountain States. I traveled mainly Interstate highways this year, except for a stretch along the Salmon River in Idaho, and also practically following the Continental Divide (I think) in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. The longer I was on the road, the more beautiful the colors became.

I felt part of the change. I actually could feel less stiffness in my back as I would lie down to sleep at night, even tho I fatigued from driving and was getting virtually no exercise--and I was keeping in touch with my office, since it was a sort of 'working vacation'. I had planned visits with about a dozen volunteers in communities along the way, to check in about the Alternative Gift Markets they are coordinating or planning to hold in the future.

The time alone in the car also gave me opportunity to better accept that there is so little that I really can control. But I did need to keep alert and be aware of my surroundings, since it is the season for hunting, and the deer & elk were being disturbed from their normal habitat.

Perhaps I am entering a new season of my life. One in which I can settle in and feel more secure, but also must stay aware for approaching storms. Now, however, I feel more prepared for those events than ever before. I think that is because I know that I have survived many previous storms--even with the unpredictable stock market and workplace angst. I gain comfort in the scripture that says "there is nothing new under the sun". .
and yet, each day there is something new. There is good news. To listen to many news stories, one would think that we are always 'breaking new records'. .but in many ways, that is simply number-crunching for the younger generation that has not weathered so many storms.

I watch my 99 year old father and realize what he has survived. .and still, he just lives one meal and one day at a time.. . I don't know if he reflects on things nearly so much as I. .but maybe he does. So many people have stories about the storms they have survived. We need to hear more of them to appreciate the changing of each season. Many of them are living now in the 'best time of their lives'. .and, yet, we Americans want so much more. I wonder why that is. LM