Autumn to winter, winter to spring,

Spring into summer, summer into fall —

So rolls the changing year, and so we change;

Motion so swift, we know not that we move.

–Dinah Mulock Craik

As I drank my morning coffee on Wednesday, I watched leaves fall from trees that line the south side of our property. Stressed by a lack of rainfall, my beautiful trees are beginning to shed their foliage. In due time the mornings will chill and the leaves will turn orange and gold before returning to the earth. I’ll pull my sweaters out of hiding and store my capris for use next summer. New candles will inhabit spots around the house reserved in recent weeks for fresh flowers.

My son, the last Klope child to live at home, will begin his senior year in high school. There will be colleges to consider; dances, cross country meets, and football games to attend. Senior portraits to take. College and scholarship applications to complete. Plans to make. It will be one final year to love and enjoy him in close proximity before he grabs hold of the vision for a happy college life away from home next fall.

Around us the natural world is in gentle flux; there’s a hint of change. There are garden vegetables to be canned; fish to be packed; game to be collected. While still subtle, nature’s signals are intended for us, as well. A pair of barn swallows who parented a second clutch of eggs by my back door call regularly for their kids to step off the side of the nest. It’s time to leave the island for warmer parts!

What have you enjoyed this summer and where are you going this fall?

Since the most ancient of days, September has been viewed as a time of reflection and resolution. Toward the end of the month Jews worldwide will observe Yom Kippur, considered the holiest day of the year and a time to reverently draw near to God and to the core of their own souls. Participants will abstain from food and drink, they will not bathe, wear leather shoes, or enjoy marital relations. Instead, they will withdraw from the world and move into synagogues to participate in five separate prayer services, confess personal sins, and recite Psalms. As the day comes to an end, joy will be celebrated as an expression of confidence that God will accept their repentance and offer each a year of life, health and happiness.

Fine time, I say, to outline a few desires of our own. What do you want to do that will create a happy fall? What do you want more or less of? More time to bake and less outside house maintenance? More time to read or connect with distant family and friends? Less time spent watering the garden? More time on the island to see friends and less travel to distant parts?

While I may not be quite ready for shorter days, I like the reflective peace that is autumn. Mitchell Burgess agrees when he writes, “If winter is slumber and spring is birth, and summer is life, then autumn rounds out to be reflection.” It’s the perfect time to leash the dog and breathe deeply as you walk. There are many paths to take; thoughts to express; options to consider. There is not the mad dash to make new year resolutions and pubic promises like we do toward the end of the year. Instead, fall reflection is personal and quiet and peaceful. It’s fueled by an energy renewed by summertime adventures.

People are returning to their routines. New leaves are being turned over. Let’s be open to the change.