MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2022, SEASONS

 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2022 - SEASONS

We are in the midst of changing seasons in Central Texas (and wherever you are).  For my friends in the Upper Midwest and Connecticut, the leaves have turned red, orange, yellow, and then brown and have dropped off the trees.  

My area of Central Texas has a lot of live oak trees.  These leaves stay green all winter and then in spring drop off as the new buds push them out.  It gives the appearance of not having much of a seasonal change.  There is a Texas State Park about two hours away (that I haven’t ever visited) called “Lost Maples State Park” and seemingly there the maple trees are like maple trees in other locations and do change color and do drop off.

A friend in New Jersey sent me a text yesterday morning asking about tornadoes in Texas which were in the Dallas-Fort Worth area which is about three hours north of my Austin/Central Texas area.  Changes in seasons can have violent weather.

As I understand it, the seasons change largely because of the 23-degree tilt to the Earth’s axis.  The sun will be stronger in the Southern Hemisphere for the next several months - so they will have spring and summer while we have fall and winter.  As I also understand, if the Earth did not have a tilt and the sun shone directly above the equator year around, there would be permanent winter at the North and South Poles, that agriculture would barely exist and humans would barely exist.  

So, we’ll go from Fall into Winter (and I will gloat - “How much snow did you get?  How cold was it?”) and then from Winter into Spring and into Summer (and you can gloat - “How hot is it?  How many days are over 100?  When was the last time you had rain?”).  

I do believe in an infinite and all-intelligent being - God (He, She, It, The Force, Ahh) - created our planet to have a tilt that makes for a livable planet. (Hurray, and if not, I wouldn’t be writing this <grin>).

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Philosophers have adapted the concept of “seasons” to our lives.  Maybe the seasons of our lives don’t change four times a year, but they do change.  

We are infants - maybe like early spring as the buds come out on trees, or the bears have their young and come out of hibernation; then we are toddlers; kids; teenagers, young adults;, middle age adults and having our own children; and eventually we enter that “senior age”. 

I’m not sure if I am in “winter” yet, or just in “fall”.  

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And, “fall” is an interesting word for this - at my annual physical last week, one of the repeated questions was “Have you had a fall?”.  I know many seniors who have fallen.  Some have broken their hips or other parts of their bodies.  Fall - maybe like the season fall where leaves fall down and the tree branches become bare and the trees become barren.  Or like the pumpkin vines who have produced that splendid orange orb and now has died.

As you know I am working at a senior housing facility and most of my work is with two ladies in their 90s in the memory care unit.  “Soon” (whatever ‘soon’ means), these two will die.  But, until then, they are viable human beings.  They are in the winter of their lives - they have lost their “leaves”, they have lost their mobility, and (especially for one of the ladies), lost a part of their reasoning ability.  

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I want to say I’m not in my “winter” yet.  I’m in my form of human “fall”.  I want to pass on my thoughts (through this blog and other means), I want to love and live before I no longer can love and live. I want to be colorful like the autumn leaves, I want to pass on love and understanding, and I want to hope that I still have meaning and value.

Maybe like the pumpkin crop, I want my pumpkins to be picked and made into Jack O Lanterns or into pumpkin pie before I die.  We haven’t had a killing frost yet in Central Texas, but the pumpkin vines are dying.  They are giving up the last of their crop.

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The word “season” also applies to “seasoning”.  I have a cupboard with lots of seasonings.  I’m thinking of Matthew 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

Salt just makes some foods even tastier.  My father would even sprinkle a little salt on his watermelon.  

That day is coming when I might not be salty anymore when my mind breaks and gives up.  It is human nature - like those pumpkins, we start small and can grow quite large, but eventually, we will die.  Eventually, our saltiness will disappear.  

Yes, I want to be meaningful and of value until that final scene in the “Karen White” play - where the heroine dies and the angels appear and take her to nirvana, heaven, Shangri la, utopia, or some other place. , 

There are those who do remain salty into their 90s (or even older).  

There are other seasonings too.  I put cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and sugar in my morning oatmeal.  I put paprika and seasoned salt on my eggs.  I put onions and garlic on most of my casseroles (or “hot dishes”).  

These seasonings enhance the flavors.  The seasons of the year give us variety - spring, summer, fall, and winter.  

Are you in a good season of life?  Are you “the salt of the earth” like Matthew 5:13?  

Love wins!!  

But, I heard something yesterday that hit me - Love is Transformative.  Not only does love win, but love can transform each of us.  Am I open to being loving?  Am I open to being transformed?  Am I open to being an agent of transformation?

Karen White ©,  November 7, 2022