It has been a beautiful summer filled with family time at my home and at a cottage we rent every summer for a week, celebrating several August birthdays, visiting a couple of Folklorama pavilions, time at the beach, and sharing my story with a seniors day club. Perhaps my reluctance to write my August blog post has to do with the fact that summer is on its way out and I want it to last longer.
My daughter and I recently spent a day at The Leaf, a spectacular indoor horticultural attraction at Assiniboine Park, here in Winnipeg. I was especially looking forward to the Butterfly Garden which had been closed for a while. I was not disappointed! The sign at the entrance (below) seemed particularly appropriate for my mood of not looking forward to change--the seasonal kind, but also the personal!
Winnipeg Free Press Columnist, Rebecca Chambers asks the question: "What would it mean to speak our fears out loud? What is the role of people with a megaphone or microphone, people with ink and printing presses and web domains, when the dread creeps up on us and the voices of the past reach our ears with whispered and urgent warnings of how fragile we are, how quickly things can change, and how persistent the evil and neglect of this world is?"
You articulate the realities well.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteSometimes, like yours, my mind pinballs from past to present—even straying into future, imagining when summer gives up its sultry grasp and turns to temperate fall. Ha!
ReplyDeleteI’m glad you got to enjoy summer days at a cottage with your family
and also shared your story with a seniors day club.
As the Psalmist says, “our days are as grass” and we will make the best of them. Thanks for sharing your meditation here, Elfrieda.
Thank you for that word from the Psalms. So much wisdom there!
DeleteThere's a poignancy at the end of summer that matches the sense of fragility at the end of young old age and the beginning of old old age. Marian cites the wisdom of the Psalmist. We can't go wrong there.
ReplyDeleteWe have so much to learn from the Psalms. So glad they were preserved all these centuries! Hardy and I read Psalm 90 together and we used it in his memorial service. “Teach us to use wisely all the time we have…let your love satisfy all our needs.”
ReplyDeleteAugust, and the brevity of life. Yes to all that. And yet, the beauty... Thanks for these reflections!
ReplyDeleteThe above comment was from me (Dora); didn't intend to be anonymous!
DeleteYou’re welcome, Dora! Hope your summer has been great so far!
DeleteI also have the feeling that I would like summer to last longer. I am glad you filled it with memorable family time.
ReplyDeleteLet’s just count late spring and early autumn as part of summer. That will make it longer!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this! Lets hope we have a long and lovely fall before those winter winds come blowing…
ReplyDeleteYes! I want that!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your always insightful reflections. I started reading Alice Fryling’s “Aging Faithfully” last week—highly recommended. The last few years have involved so many massive transitions in my life as well as in the world. Accepting that, yes, I am getting to the elderly stage (and it feels odd whenever I say that to my elders!) was a serious reality check.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Linda. Fryling’s book sounds like one I would enjoy reading! Coping with all the changes and aging gracefully is a challenge!
ReplyDeleteI'm reminded of a song:
ReplyDelete"I don't know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day.
I don't borrow from its sunshine
For its skies may turn to gray.
I don't worry o'er the future,
For I know what Jesus said,
And today I'll walk beside him,
For he knows what is ahead.
Refrain: Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow,
And I know who holds my hand."
Wonderful! Another one I love is “One Day at a Time, sweet Jesus, that’s all I’m asking of you…”
ReplyDeleteThankyou for this reminder of aging and what that all entails. The future is not ours to see….whatever will be will be. I try to focus on all the positives that occur in my life each day & that keeps me going….one day at a time👍
ReplyDeleteRuth Jansen
Living in the moment is a good coping method! And doing it cheerfully!
ReplyDeleteI get depressed thinking of the coming winter. I don't mind the west coast weather but the early darkness is oppressive. Adding to the literal gloom is the looming darkness from the south of us as well as the atrocities in Gaza and a person feels so inconsequential. If I dwell on those things I get even less sleep. I do appreciate all the positive things in my life and I'm thankful every day.
ReplyDeleteRobbie
I just finished reading an article about the minister of health in our neighbor to the south and it is enough to literally freak me out! God have mercy!
ReplyDeleteElfrieda, we are in a season of looking back, reflecting and trying to remain positive in a world that seems to be changing so drastically, daily! Thanks for sharing your happy Summer!
ReplyDeleteYou’re welcome! Today feels like a fall day, weather wise, and I hope to enjoy it as much as the summer which passed too quickly! I hope fall lingers!
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