I admit it. I love
autumn. I live in North Carolina where for the past two summers we have had a
string of 90+ degrees days. This year, since May 27, we have had 82 such days.
The lowest temperature we have experienced in three months is 83. So, I am thankful
for the latter days of September and the early days of October when the heat
and the humidity take a backseat. We will still receive a few days of 85+
degrees until November, but the heat eases, and people start thinking of the
upcoming holidays.
Moreover, in my family,
we have a series of birthdays between now and year’s end. I turned a sweet 69 years on
September 17. [There was a time I thought being 69 meant one was ANCIENT! Not
so much now.] My granddaughter Annalise turns 3 in early October. My stepson
Tim will be 40 on Halloween. My grandson James will be 5 in early November, and
his father (my son) Josh will be 32 in mid November. We have Thanksgiving in
the States at the end of November [which included my late mother’s birthday] and Christmas in December. And
the much anticipated event at the beginning of January will be a new
grandchild. So you can see how my heart grows lighter once the heat of summer
disappears.
On one of those recent
hot summer evenings, I was speaking to my long time friend Charlotte on the
phone, and is customary between us, we were reminiscing about some crazy antics
from our childhood. Soon, I was telling her about the year I received four
Easter baskets. This was a monumental event for my parents were separated in a
time when divorce was still not “accepted.” My mother did not
know whether she could scrap up enough money to purchase an Easter basket, and
so she had prepared me for disappointment. Then God smiled on my 10-year-old
self for my grandfather bought me a basket, our neighbors, who had no children
of their own, did likewise, the woman for whom my mother worked presented me
with a third one, and my mother was the bearer of the fourth. It was too much
chocolate for one child, but I rationed it out to last a LONG time. What was
odd about each was that somehow the little note from the presenters were mixed
up, and I kept thanking the wrong people for the chocolate bunnies or the jelly
beans. Soon the situation became a family source of laughter.
