Passage

I was taking my daily walk to the park today with Otto.

"Yep," I said to myself, "there is a great change enveloping us."

As I watched a tire swing sway from the motion of child, now absent from play, I thought to myself, "How different things are here from when summer was in full swing."

Then the park was bustling with children on play equipment, gardeners in the community garden, children on the field playing games, teenagers hanging out in groups, picnics on the grass. There were a lot of neighborly conversations going on.

As summer turns to Fall, the leaves are those lovely shades of orange, but now falling to the ground. The note on the garden states it is time to tend to your plot and close it down for the season. There are fewer dogs, no picnics.

It is pretty still at 5 p.m.

There is some solace in the change of the season. But it definitely felt it was time to say goodbye to summer days and prepare for sweaters and jeans, soups, stews and squash..... and the holidays.

Bittersweet but ready to embrace it.

I guess change has always been difficult for me or maybe this indicates I just had a really good summer.