Like kamikazes sacrificially plummeting from the sky, I watched some of the first leaves fall to earth yesterday. Which always makes me sad. Though I cannot blame them… It’s been a long, hot, thirsty summer and frankly I am amazed at their capacity to have held on this long with little to no liquid nourishment from above.
Autumn is without a doubt my favorite season as it unwaveringly causes me to become reflective. For some, reflection comes with the arrival of the New Year… 365 pre-packaged days bursting with possibility. Or perhaps it is spring that stirs within others dreams of opportunity and renewal. But for me, there is no time of year where change is as palpable as in the fall.
If you will, consider how all five of our senses are engaged during the transition that accompanies fall…
The wind feels cooler against our skin that—not long ago bare—is now covered with softer, warmer fabrics.
The air smells crisper, edged with the saccharine scent of our biological world as it breaks down around us.
Our palette changes to accommodate warmer things, tasting both spicy and sweet.
Our sight is continually stimulated by the brilliant colors and shifting shades of the leaves, grasses and the fields of the harvest.
Our surroundings grow quieter and still as the cool weather begins to slow us down. And all that can be heard is the distant falling, rustling and crunching of the leaves as they give themselves over to Time.
Woman In Thrisis 