Seven Quick Takes, vol 20
1. Fall is at its peak. The nights are cold and the leaves are bright. Fall is such a poignant season for me that symbolizes the inevitability of change -- not my favorite thing about life. The other night I woke up from a dream in which I was middle-aged and my children were grown and in my dream I was struggling with the realization that the changes in my life were then going to be harder and sadder ones, more letting go and less gaining. I tried to shake the gloom of that dream off quickly, but the gray skies and the smell of autumn have kept it in my mind. 2. Then this afternoon I spoke with my 80 year old neighbor Carol over the fence and she reminisced about autumns past -- her friend Doris slipping though the fence to have coffee with her, going out to rake leaves in her yard and getting nothing done as she gossiped with her friends, Mary Catherine and Emma, who lived in other houses in the neighborhood. She told me that ...