LABOR DAY

                                                            

Labor Day. Wow already. What happened to Memorial Day and the Fourth of July and the summer family reunions? Where did those lazy evenings with spectacular sunsets and loons crying across the lake, slip off too? Where did all the summer celebrations around the lakes go, with endless craft shows, parades, picnics and fairs, so many you could scarce fit them all in. Quiet pontoon rides around the chain and days at the beach with those you love. Now, all of them, just another treasure trove of memories, entered in our book of our life.

Sometime in the next few weeks. The humming birds will steal away in the night for their winter trek and the feeder will swing empty on the hook. Already the birch trees are turning yellow, the apples are turning red and begging to be picked and the acorns are falling. The sumac is turning red and yellow school buses are making their rounds. Sometime soon those loons that played of the end of my dock all summer will be gone and the waters won’t be so inviting. Slowly one by one the docks and lifts will vanish and all the boats and toys will be put away. We will close the windows once again in the evening, as the nighttime breezes bring in a chill. Mornings are all ready darker and evenings are shorter and a fire in the fireplace seems comforting. Only a few stray Mums’ still show their summer blossoms.

They have a saying on the license plates in Florida, “Endless summer.” Seems inviting doesn’t it? But believe me there is something to be said for our theater of seasons. There is something to be said for the warm fall days, with no bugs, when the world is all colored in reds and yellows, as the leaves become our autumn flowers. The words heat index, and tornado watch have been put away for another year. There is something to be said about fishing without greasy sunscreen and for the hunters the fall season is here. It’s a time when farmers can take a breather with their crops tucked safely away in the granaries and bins and mom’s can relax too, with the kids safely back in school.

Years ago Johnny Mercer wrote the song ‘Autumn.’ “Those falling leaves drift by the window. The autumn leaves of red and gold. I see your lips, the summer kisses. The sunburned hands I used to hold.” For a few years those lyrics rang so poignant to me. I’m sure to anyone who said goodbye to a loved one this summer---you know what I mean.    Since you went away the days grow long. And soon I’ll hear old winters song. But I’ll miss you most of all my darling. When autumn leaves began to fall.  Yes how true it was  but there comes a time for all of us when grief is tempered. When you pull up the shades of sadness and face what’s left of your life with a new perspective on life.

I have always felt that autumn comes on to you like an old friend you haven’t seen for a long time. Its role is to let you down easy, before the rigors of winter. Cold today, warm tomorrow, colder the next and then less warm until you stop looking back at summer and start dreaming about the spring to come.