Changing Times

                        

            Change is all around me. I look outside and there is more than a hint of Fall in the air.  Leaves are changing color, my garden is in harvest mode, and the air is cool and damp.

            After a summer of unusual warmth and dryness, we have had some rain, and plants are reviving, coming alive again.

            I turn the calendar to a new month.  Summer vacations are ending, and there is a flurry of activities. Classes, meetings, events are happening. Community life is coming alive again.  There are things to do and opportunities to grow. 

            Driving by my neighborhood school, I see it coming alive after the summer break.  The parking lot is crowded, and families are heading inside to an evening welcoming, celebrating the opening of school.  Excited, nervous little kids break into an enthusiastic skip as they walk into the school, parents smiling with pride. 

Their child is starting school, and opportunity awaits. Anything is possible.  I see that in their faces, in how they walk, and hold their kids’ hands.

            At the store, I navigate through the hordes of tourists and weekenders, and I run into old friends.  We reconnect, realizing we haven’t seen each other all summer.  We pause to catch up, and reconnect, reweaving the fabric of community.  This weekend marks the end of the high season, the wave after wave of visitors who crowd our roads, and walk our beaches and trails.  Soon, it will be quieter here, and we locals will breathe big sighs of relief, and reclaim our peaceful moments in the places we treasure.

            They, too, are caught up in this sense of change and transformation.  It is a new season, a new beginning. 

            Before yesterday’s rain, I planted a new crop of peas, beets, and radishes.  My new lettuce rows are already up.  I harvest more broccoli for our dinner, knowing that my work will bring on yet another feast in another month. 

            A friend is soon off to college, and we pause for coffee, and share his excitement for his new adventure.  He’s ordered his textbooks, and is already packing for his move to a new city, and a new school.  Excitement is in the air and in his eyes.  His future is happening, and he’s ready to grow.

            All this newness and excitement.  I feel alive and invigorated.  Anything is possible.  Anything can happen.  I am part of that, and I am all of that.

            Change.  It is in the air, and I am ready to take a deep breath, and move ahead.

Neal Lemery

9/7/15