A Fall Person

The autumn leaves are beautiful in central Georgia this year. My daily drive from Social Circle to Madison is now a myriad of reds, yellows, oranges, and browns. And, until the season peaks, the colors will change with each passing day. I am enjoying the tree-lined roads I travel, as I watch the colors deepen and intensify in the early morning and late afternoon sunshine.

I am not a Winter Person, and Fall reminds me of the bleak, gray days that are looming ahead of me. As I gaze at the rich colors of autumn, I visualize what the scene will be in another month or so, and yearn for springtime. This year, however, I am determined not to dwell on the future too much, but to enjoy what my eyes are seeing today. I tell myself that this is the most beautiful Fall I’ve ever seen, while knowing I’ve lived through many, many seasons in my lifetime that were probably of equal, if not more magnificent, beauty. I try to imagine the same scenes in their winter attire, and remember the breathtaking beauty of last winter’s unexpected snow. I remind myself that the snowy days are also beautiful, but they tend to be in black and white tones, not in Technicolor. I tend to skip past my visions of winter, and go straight to springtime. Like I said, I’m not a Winter Person.


Even with the lovely colors that the leaves are displaying, they remind me of the circle of life, and of death. Now that more of my life is behind me than is still ahead, I watch the leaves fall and think about the end of life. I know that it’s not the tree that is dying, but only the leaves. The trees and bushes are simply shedding their worn-out summer clothes to wait for their new Easter outfits. The leaves will fall to the ground to decay and add nutrients to the soil, as they do their part to nourish the tree to prepare for the next season’s new attire.

I could get theological about this and go into my beliefs about life after death, but I’m not going to in this blog. The intent of this verbal wandering today is to share with whoever reads this my thoughts about Autumn this year, and the effect it is having on my wandering thoughts.

If it weren’t for winter, I think I could become an Autumn Person. At least, until Springtime!