“Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves change.”
-Elizabeth Lawrence
Yesterday as I left a meeting, I noticed the scarlet splash on a burning bush. Looking up towards the brilliant blue sky, the hints of orange in the trees across the road caught my attention.
The sudden notice of the colors contrasting with the green of summer made me realize: Fall has arrived.
There is a chill in the morning air that gives us pause and makes us remember we are not teenagers anymore. The changes of time, imperceptible as they occur, suddenly are apparent in the morning air and dawns that come later each day. And the honking of geese as they migrate south, boldly calling attention to their flight which reminds us of the passing of the year and the flight of time as the cycle of seasons continues unabated.
Stop and sit. Let the steam rise off the coffee as you watch the day unfold and the morning sunlight illuminate the trees, more colorful than a few days before even as the leaves lose their photosynthetic capacity to create.
Observe the flowers over-opening, revealing their hidden parts as their beauty changes then starts to fade, a memory of days past but still maintaining a portion of their glory.
Walk down memory lane and the road and note the crispness and edge on the grass, the apples full on the trees and ready to share their fruit.
Slow down and appreciate as time feels to speed up in the endless cycle that inevitably ends for all of us.