The Autumnal Equinox

I love new beginnings. I love when the media and calendars and books tell me it is time to set goals or refocus my energy. But I also love when nature does the coaxing. Mother earth has a cute way of delivering opportunities for us to start over. Each day the sun is kind enough to rise and remind us of the beauty around us. Each month the moon changes and shows us it's okay to be full and to disappear completely. And with each passing season we are reminded by the solstices and equinoxes that life changes and moves forward. The snow melts, the rains cease, and flowers return.

Today is the autumnal equinox. Day and night are nearly the same amount of time and summer is bidding us farewell. We will miss her vernal warmth and whimsy, but we know she'll be back next year. As fall has arrived many things will change. School has started, the air is cooler and each nights' twilight smells and looks different. But with all this change I'm excited. I'm excited for another season of opportunity. There are only so many Octobers in one's life, and only so many chances that we are given. Let this new season bring about greater love, bigger efforts, and more appreciation.

Maybe this November you will fall in love. Maybe this Halloween will change your life. Maybe this will be your last Thanksgiving with a loved one. So cherish what you have, and look forward to things you have never had or experienced. F.Scott Fitzgerald said that, "Life starts over again when it gets crisp in the fall." So don't wait for January 1st to make goals and start over. As the sun appears to cross the celestial equator, heading southward, you too can head in a new direction and let your light shine where there was nothing but shadows and darkness before.

And waste not your time before the harsh cold comes. Take advantage of this brief season. And hark unto the words of Nathaniel Hawthorne who said, "I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house. So I have spent almost all the daylight hours in the open air."

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” ― Albert Camus