Lucille's

MARCHING INTO FALL……gaining perspective

Fall.

It's a crispy kind of season.

 It offers crisp air, crisper leaves and maybe even apple crisp.

It feels good to start pulling out the woollies…they have so much more substance than our flighty summer togs, speaking comfort and warmth and curling up by a fire…tweed jackets and angora pullovers and leather boots and fleece-lined coats.

We know cold is lurking (actually it’s the rain and damp for me where I live), so every morsel of sunlit warmth and blue sky takes on a magical quality. We revel in it, although a month ago we were taking it for granted …perhaps even voicing complaint when the thermometer rose too high for our liking. We have a new perspective now. We have moved into cherishing mode. We see what we are losing and we grasp and enjoy and hold on till the last bit of juice is gone.

Sounds a bit like the rest of our lives, doesn’t it? We complain that our precious beautiful children are so much work and wish their lives away hoping to speed them more quickly into self-sufficiency. Then one day we wake up and their adorable little selves are gone and we are staring into the acned faces of creatures that are now capable but at the same time seemingly incapable (or at least reluctant) to find their way into adulthood. We reminisce about the good old days when the children were small and so cute and went to bed at a decent hour and a time when there was still a thing or two we knew more about than they did. And so we hang onto the vestiges of those childish charms that surface every once in a while and perhaps decide to enjoy the remaining days these young adults will spend under our roof.

Workdays, we complain about getting up early, about the traffic, of being over-worked and under-paid. We dislike our bosses and feel under-appreciated. But then suddenly we are unemployed and we would give anything to have that job back. Or retirement comes and we are bored and disconnected and fresh out of any sense of purpose. We remember our working days differently perhaps. Our days were full then and we had ideas and interaction and were productive. It’s like we counted back then. Now we’re not so sure.

How many of us return with nostalgia to a place in our minds when we were first starting out, where our furniture was cobbled together from our parent’s cast-offs, second-hand stores and an assortment of planks and cinderblocks? We remember how happy we were, living on love and pork and beans, proud to be able to pay the bills and make it on our own. Now we live in our grand homes and stress about paying the mortgage and keeping our décor current while working longer hours to keep our heads above water and seldom remembering to carve time out for the simple pleasures of just being together.

So I guess what I want to say is……………

find your pleasure,

 your purpose,

 your joy in today.

You have been given today.

 There is no promise of a tomorrow.

Love  and value every moment.

Love everyone in your day. Hugs are good.