{"id":3290,"date":"2015-11-22T21:50:27","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T03:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=3290"},"modified":"2015-11-24T11:30:38","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T17:30:38","slug":"falls-riot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=3290","title":{"rendered":"Fall’s fading riot of color"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"riot<\/a>I recently returned from a two week visit to the South Carolina coast with my brother and sister and bits and pieces of friends and family. \u00a0Children, husbands, grandchildren came and went but for the entire fourteen days it was my brother and sister and me. \u00a0Just the three that we are, now that mom and dad are gone. That simple fact, and the fact that we had returned to the ocean we had visited many times as kids and later year after year with our own children, was special.<\/p>\n

Spending time at the beach brought back memories of our own youth as well as the childhoods of our now grown kids. The smell of the salt air, the warmth of the miles of sandy beach, the sway of the sea oats against startling blue skies, day after day was mesmerizing and restorative with a hint of magic. Our days seemed suspended in time and our worries and realities were blurred by the beauty of each day, each minute.<\/p>\n

We were fortunate to arrive post-hurricane; the crispness and calm it left in the air and the sea was rare and fine.<\/p>\n

The morning we left was as exquisite as the day before and the day before and the day before that. As we packed up towels and linens, emptied the refrigerator and washed off sandy beach toys, the real world loomed closer and closer. Packing his bags into the car, my brother commented that we were on our way “back to fall with it’s heartbreaking riot of color. A short and poignant season.”<\/p>\n

Being an English professor, I asked him who he was quoting. \u00a0And he replied, ” Not a quote. I said that.”<\/p>\n

I have reflected on that thought over and over in the month\u00a0since\u00a0we left the beach. I enjoyed fall’s riot of color. I\u00a0enjoyed it through every state, on every country road and interstate as I drove from South Carolina through West Virginia to\u00a0Illinois on my way home.\u00a0\u00a0It\u00a0was\u00a0breathtaking.<\/p>\n

We had our first snow yesterday. \u00a0Snow on\u00a0top of fall’s last hoorah. \u00a0Not as much of a mess as one\u00a0might\u00a0anticipate but an early storm always brings a bit of that. A\u00a0messy mix of the hanger-on leaves combined with wet snow that turns quickly to ice. And the riot was over.<\/p>\n

Fall is like that. \u00a0A wild\u00a0and beautiful display\u00a0of nature at its best and then\u00a0with\u00a0the\u00a0first\u00a0frost or an\u00a0early\u00a0snow, it’s vibrant show is suddenly over.\u00a0\u00a0And bleak\u00a0winter\u00a0is\u00a0upon\u00a0us. \u00a0Wet\u00a0and heavy and\u00a0bothersome. \u00a0Snow boots and down\u00a0coats\u00a0and shovels. Ice and frozen\u00a0windshield\u00a0wiper blades.<\/p>\n

So I didn’t really understand the\u00a0heartbreaking\u00a0part of fall’s riot completely until\u00a0the cold hard\u00a0facts\u00a0of winter came\u00a0looming.<\/p>\n

Winter here so soon caused me to pause and ask myself \u00a0why time and the days pass so much more\u00a0quickly as we get older. And the seasons seem to blur. At\u00a0first,\u00a0my answer was that as a child our lives are filled with\u00a0few\u00a0responsibilities\u00a0and little to clutter our minds about time. The days are long. Sunrise to sunset seems to take forever. Our proverbial\u00a0mental\u00a0video tapes are spare and\u00a0slim. \u00a0Wide open\u00a0and\u00a0just\u00a0starting to turn and accumulate bulk.<\/p>\n

But as we age, our minds become full and heavy\u00a0with\u00a0memories and moments and thoughts. \u00a0Sorrows and pain, happiness\u00a0and joy. \u00a0We acquire so many recorded moments\u00a0that\u00a0our\u00a0minds\u00a0cannot hold them all at once, and our videos seem to move in fast forward.<\/p>\n

But then my husband had another thought. \u00a0He said it has less to do with long days and a childlike feeling of forever but more to do\u00a0with fewer days and\u00a0limited time. \u00a0Our time in this life gets shorter as we get older. \u00a0So days and\u00a0seasons do as well.<\/p>\n

I stopped and thought and admitted he was right. And the poignance of the present became all the more precious.<\/p>\n

So on this Thanksgiving, I am hoping to do what the holiday implies. Amidst all the menu discussions and centerpiece planning and napkin folding and silverware counting, I hope to actually stop and give thanks. \u00a0For all the days I have left on this beautiful, volatile, crazy mixed-up earth. Oh, how I do love it. This earth.<\/p>\n

Happy Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

And happy rioting, leaves or no leaves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently returned from a two week visit to the South Carolina coast with my brother and sister and bits and pieces of friends and family. \u00a0Children, husbands, grandchildren came and went but for the entire fourteen days it was my brother and sister and me. \u00a0Just the three that we are, now that mom …<\/p>\n

>>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFall's fading riot of color - askmsmom.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=3290\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fall's fading riot of color - askmsmom.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I recently returned from a two week visit to the South Carolina coast with my brother and sister and bits and pieces of friends and family. \u00a0Children, husbands, grandchildren came and went but for the entire fourteen days it was my brother and sister and me. \u00a0Just the three that we are, now that mom ...>>Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=3290\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"askmsmom.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-23T03:50:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-11-24T17:30:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/riot-3-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=3290#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=3290\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5031095d2f9410eb51dc2762789e1945\"},\"headline\":\"Fall’s fading riot of color\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-23T03:50:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-24T17:30:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=3290\"},\"wordCount\":745,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=3290#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/riot-3-150x150.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=3290#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=3290\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=3290\",\"name\":\"Fall's fading riot of color - 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