SEPTEMBER THOUGHTS

A series of essays.....

A PERFECT PICNIC SPOT NEAR LAKE
MICHIGAN ALONG MICHIGAN'S WEST COAST

.....as seen through my eyes!





By: Jacqueline E. Hughes


"Dig deep within; everything you need exists within you."

I am a fan of Alex E. Carey! Alex is a YA or 'Young-Adult' author whom I met via social media and her quotes continue to uplift and encourage me each day. Especially, as the month of September looms on the horizon and a fast-paced summer carries on with a bang before slowly winding down with more thought provoking characteristics and qualities heading into fall and winter.

September is, by far, my favorite month of the year!

This time of the year reminds me of one of my best-loved fiction authors from Scotland, Rosamunde Pilcher, who released her novel entitled "September" in nineteen ninety, published by St. Martin's Press. The novel begins in May as invitations are being written for a party in September. "September in Scotland is when a brief but glorious summer is ending and the long, gray winter has yet to begin. It is a time of almost frenzied rounds of parties and houseguests and reels. September is a month when marriage is proposed and marriages break up, when people drink a little too much, dance a little too late into the night, when promises are made, hearts are broken, and long-buried family secrets can come to light." ......St. Martin's Press.

I enjoy a book that temps the reader with layer upon layer of interesting characters and becomes a curl-up-under-the-covers kind of old-fashioned read. Even though her most popular book is "The Shell Seekers," I have always been partial to "September." As for being an author, Ms. Pilcher says her stories are "not so much love stories, but more about human relations..... If the stories do not have a happy ending, then they always have a hopeful ending."

I love the healthy 'crunch' of the fallen leaves beneath my feet when I take a mind and soul-cleansing walk through the neighborhood at dusk in late September. While breathing in the heady scent of the leaves, I think about all things related to the season as in the harvesting of pumpkins and the warm, spicy scent of golden pies cooling on a rack. My vivid imagination allows me to hear the sudden cracking sound of juicy apples snapped right from the tree and inhale the cinnamon scented, mulled apple cider steaming in the pot, soon to be ladled into thick, brown mugs. Definitely hand warmers for the body and soul.

Fall always has me looking forward with sweet anticipation to Halloween, a holiday originally influenced by Samhain, a Celtic autumn festival, and picture happy, little faces disguised by masks, red clown noses, and cascades of Princess sparkles. My own birthday, hiding in the shadows of this spirited holiday and just a few days afterwards, warms my heart!

And, I think about color.....yellow, red, orange, crimson, and gold, as well as the green leaves that are last to change; chlorophyll holdouts. Nature is having one last fling before settling down into winter's sleep and we are being provided with one of the most fantastic photo ops we could ever imagine.

But why, for goodness sakes, does this season between summer and winter have two names? According to Slate Magazine, before it was autumn or fall, it was harvest. Forrest Wickman writes, "While the modern names of winter and summer have been around for more than a thousand years, the names of fall and spring are more recent and less constant. This is partly because the two seasons were long viewed as secondary to summer and winter. As late as the 18th century, English speakers were less likely to think of the year as having four seasons, focusing instead on the coldest and warmest portions of the year.

Harvest as a word to mean not just "a time of reaping" but, also, "the third season of the year" lasted up until the 16th century. But, it was joined by autumn---a word borrowed from the French---at that time. Spring and fall likely gained popularity in conjunction with each other. They initially appeared in the 16th century as 'spring of the leaf and fall of the leaf,' respectively. The two complemented each other nicely and were soon shortened to the more succinct fall and spring with the longer phrases disappearing over the next few hundred years."

Wickman further explains, "Sir Walter Raleigh, one of the first English explorers of North America, uses the word fall to contrast with spring in his writing and poetry. When the British came to implement "The King's English" here, however, they conceded that by the use of 'fall,' North Americans applied the superior term and expressed their envy: Fall is better on the merits than autumn, in every way. It is short, Saxon like the other three season names, picturesque; it reveals its derivation to everyone who uses it, not to the scholar only, like autumn."

While I am on the subject of 'harvest.......,' may I interject a particular fall activity in France that begins, generally, around the first part of September? The French refer to it as la vendange which means grape or wine harvest or vintage; grapes harvested; grape crop. And, for this, many of us shall remain eternally grateful! Vive la France!

Ms. Pilcher may have written that September is a month when marriage is proposed and marriages break up, however, I see it differently. Dan and I planned our marriage in September and on the fifteenth day, coinciding with the college football kickoff season....we dragged all of our family and friends to the church! This included season ticket holders and diehard football fans alike,  as well as my handsome groom. Our MSU Spartans were slated to open the season playing Northwestern. The sports loving contingent sequestered in the church on that sunny, blue-skied afternoon were smiling, wishing us well and even shedding a few tears as Father Adams pronounced us a married couple. I still wonder if missing a Michigan State, Notre Dame, or University of Michigan opening game had anything to do with the tears I saw on those dear, sweet faces as we walked back down the aisle.....

And, who knew that thirty-eight years later, on September 12, 2011, our twins would be born? Kerrington and Brendan, our beautiful grandchildren, born to our youngest daughter, Corinne, and son-in-law, Matthew. Life today is filled with their gusto and exuberance that helps define, deepen and complete the meaning of family.

Autumn, a term used in a most scholarly manner, I might add, often marks the transition of time....the latter part of someone's life or of something's existence. "Autumn of My Life" is a metaphor which likens one's life to the season when the time for planting, growing, and flowering is over and the natural world edges toward dormancy. A time of full maturity, especially the late stages of maturity or the early stages of decline. Oh, no....I did not just go there!

You're right. Aging is never a very popular topic of conversation, especially among the aging themselves. Oh, it is with a soft, muted sensibility that we inform one another about our own aches and pains. Our younger versions always dreaded the thought of growing older. Personally, I am quite delighted to have come this far and be right where I am.

Growing older affords one a certain perspective on life not available from the earlier parts of the journey. Gratitude comes forward as the prevailing consciousness. What could be better than that? Sensing the presence of the 'finish line' is a vivid reminder that every day matters.  

Miracles occur when human beings step up to the life they've got, young and old alike, in good times and bad, and discover they're far more creative and capable than they ever dreamed they were. Miracles occur when we learn to blossom right in the middle of what we told ourselves we could never survive or get beyond. Miracles occur when we have the courage to choose from our deepest and highest self. I know this to be true because I am married to a man who has never lost faith in himself, through very lean and impossible times, and continues to reinvent himself on a daily basis. He represents the true and undeniable meaning of strength and tenacity.

Dr. Judith Rich, aka Dr. For The Soul, once wrote, "Autumn is a time to update the operating system of our life. There are old files and programs to be deleted, hard drives that need cleaning and random access memory to be added. It is time to push the "refresh" button and invent one's self again. Then, choose who you want to be and how you want to live out the remaining years of your life."

I say to all who have pocketed a Medicare Card, approached the age of retirement or, at least, decided to slow down a bit, it's time to become creative in ways never dreamed possible in our younger years. All artists, writers and poets come forth. It is time to push that "refresh" button. It is time to be passionate and fall madly in love with life once again!

September.....

I will leave you with a paragraph or two from the beloved children's book by Charlotte Zolotow entitled, "Say It!" I used to read it to both of my girls and it became one of their favorites, by far:

"It was a golden, windy autumn day. The leaves twirled around the little girl and her mother. 'Say it say it say it!' shouted the little girl. And the mother did say it in all sort of different ways---'It's a wild, wondrous, dazzling day. It's magic. It's a golden, shining, splendiferous day!'---until at last she said it in exactly the way the little girl wanted to hear it!
'Say it,' shrieked the little girl. 'Say it say it say it!'
'I love you,' said her mother. 'I love you I love you I love you!' And she twirled around and around with the little girl in her arms until they were both dizzy."

May this September bring you all of the Joy you require....


Copyright © 2015 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved