Monday, November 16, 2020

Autumn In The Age Of Corona

How many times can I say it? This has been a weird hard year. For everyone. And it continues to be weird and hard. Also confusing, labyrinthine, and a little bit beautiful too. Cherry trees in November anyone? 

Even the landscape isn't sure what to do. 

So it blooms. It bursts forth out of season and reminds us we can too. This is Autumn in 2020. Cherry trees in bloom amidst the fiery golden hues of fall. 

Unexpected beauty tucked just beside the broken. 

Like 2020. 

Like always. 

One of the things I enjoy about my little corner of the internet is looking back at an event or a season written about here and seeing it from a new perspective. One of distance and hindsight and maybe less adrenaline than I felt when I first put pen to page. 

How will I remember 2020? What will stand out in my mind years from now when I read this blog and the snippets I've recorded from a year that's run amok? Will it all look and feel the same some years down the road? 

Will I remember the trees that fell and the dull brown landscape of one day rolling in to the next? 

 Or will I remember the small surprises of color that found a way to burst through? 

Autumn is my favorite season of the year for a few reasons, but mostly because it makes me mindful of things I want to be mindful of. I read somewhere that trees show us how beautiful it is to let things go, and autumn is the season we remember this is true. 

This year maybe more than any other in my lifetime has called for a lot of letting go. So many disappointments on both a small and grand scale. So much hurt and anger and a general sense of unease we try our best to tamp down but only sometimes succeed. 

I'm pretty sure years from now we'll remember the masks and the no toilet paper and washing our hands til they were raw, but I hope there's more. I hope when my grandchildren ask about this year I remember autumn. The season that shouts without saying a word. 

Look up she said, and so we did. 

                  

Through the icky dead browns and the fading yellows we found the sunlight was still there. 


5 comments:

  1. Yes. There is ALWAYS hope and thanks for reminding us of that! xo

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  2. Beautifully said. Thank you. It was balm to my spirit.

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  3. Thank you for this timely reminder Joyce. Yes it' been a hard, strange year but we've managed to move house and gain 3 more grandchildren. Good things to associate with 2020.

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  4. I can't believe the cherry tree! Beautiful, meaningful post.

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