It’s October and I feel slightly relieved somehow. As if the breath I’ve been holding for months can finally be exhaled. Perhaps I have decided not to wait for the other shoe to drop..cause it kinda has already. Or maybe it’s just the fact that I can now look forward to the slow, inexorable slide into darkness and winter. It’s something I can count on. I know that days will get shorter, the air will become colder and my wardrobe will gain a few layers. No problem. Any dreariness in the weather is completely expected. I’m ready.
I find that people from New England, like myself, don’t wonder if it’s gonna be a hard winter…they just know it will. Snow, sleet, bitter cold winds..sure..it’s all going to happen. So why complain? It’s part of that beautiful cycle of seasons. I’m not a fatalist. I’m not a doomsayer. I’m just a realist. There will be weather.
Most likely we’ll be getting rain. Maybe snow, if last year is any indication. For any of you who still feel scarred from the snow debacle of 08, I offer this one thought. No more Nickels. That’s it. …There, don’t you feel better? And also, as a city, Seattle will not get fooled again. The snow shovels, ice melt and tire chains will be flying off the shelves as soon as they arrive..guaranteed.
For now, I will just try to savor the precious nature of fall. It enters quietly, like a latecomer to church who takes a seat in the back and isn’t seen or heard from until the first hymn is sung. And then it stand and sings with a full, rich voice…ringing off the sky, shaking the yellow trees and making all who hear it stop and weep just a little. Cry for the inevitable changes. And then the sound slowly fades..leaving just a shadow of melody behind.