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the suddenness of September

The suddenness of September surprises me every year. Once the seventh month of the calendar, it is the time when the geranium leaves yellow and the hydrangea flowers soften to a rosy gray or honeyed butter. The shade is cooler and the sunny spots are warm, but no longer hot.


I add back the cotton comforter when I sleep, the one I’ve kicked aside all summer. After long, late afternoons on the beach followed by dinners of fresh fish and tomatoes, routines return asserting themselves in a familiar and comforting rhythm. I’m taking my afternoon coffee hot, not iced. Taller children move up to kindergarten and middle school and high school, and the green edges of the dogwood leaves redden. The neighborhood streets quiet.


The dogwood is taller, too, than it was in the spring. September reminds me in a sweet, subtle and sublime way, that I, too, am September – older though not taller. My seventh decade arrived with the same suddenness of the seventh month. Surprising, sweet, sublime, but also with the same sad poignancy of endings. In these past eight summer weeks, there have been four deaths among my family and friends, reminding me in September’s subtle way of the cycles of the year and of the years.


The sunny spot on the carpet has returned for the cat to stretch out for her nap while I finish my morning tea, promising to grow larger and stay longer as the back door of the house turns in the direction of the sunrise. The breeze on the deck in the afternoon comes from a cooler source and, it seems, the chimes ring their tones with a softer but crisper clarity.


Take the time to notice what is going on for you during this month of transition, looking back and looking forward. May September 2024 bring you happiness, gratitude and focus, and may you deepen your appreciation for the cycles in your life.


 

9/9/2024

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