Fall Days

"My favourite season is autumn, and I love walking through the woods." -Lucy Davis

"I hate fall." -me

Every year, when autumn rolls around and I feel once again its sense of loss, of life's fleeting abundance, of death and decay, I grudgingly resent this season and the transitions it brings. 

But. 

Near my house is a street lined with trees whose leaves turn the most delicious colors of red, yellow, orange; who frame themselves against the evergreen spires of Douglas Fir; who light up like fire on a sunny October afternoon. 

And just when I think I can't bear the dreary darkness of another fall, I drive down this street, and my spirits lift.

Sure, it's true that fall is a time of, well, falling back as the summer season of growth and abundance slips away. But then I remember that this is alright. The fading light of fall makes possible the sparkling brilliance of spring, and I cannot have one without the other. 

Year after year, it's the trees on this street, scarlet and golden against a fiercely blue fall sky, that remind me to be patient with the passing of the year, and to admire fall days for their own spectacular part in the dance of the seasons.