October Gold
I've always been inspired by the beauty of autumn. Even though the temperature drops, and the season only lasts a short time, the burst of colour is amazing and captivating. Crimson, orange, green, brown and gold - all these colours are burned in my memories. My favourite was gold, because I associated it with oak. There was that distinct smell of the oak leaves as they were gathered by my rake. That beautiful I could almost taste it in the air.
So many seasons raking leaves with my parents when I was younger and still living at home.... Years later, laughing at my children as they ran through the piles of leaves Wendy and I gathered at our new house.... These were the best of times. Yes, it was work, and often my hands grew numb with cold. But it didn't seem like work back then. And somehow I knew back then that I would look back at those days and cherish them.
At the time of writing this, my father has been gone more than three years, and my mother is in end-of-life care with dementia. What I wouldn't give right now to put on a pair of garden gloves and help her rake leaves in her backyard.
Autumn is a fitting reminder of how short the time we have to show our burst of colour. What are you doing to show your burst of colour?
