Be sure you read that title correctly – it is FALLING, as in the season…not FAILING. Big difference. I am FALLING now that September is here – I am doing the season the way it should be done. My favorite time of the year is this Indian Summer. The colors, the smells, the savory food, the football, the films, the hikes,  the clean air of cool nights and cerulean skies. It is heaven and much too fleeting.

Fall also signifies, at least for me, a time of the year when many of your January goals have perhaps been met, and if they have not, there is still time. If not now, when?? That has been one of my mottos ever since I became this old….shockingly older than I have ever been or could even imagine when I was younger. Everything that I am and everything that I now do, I do at this age with new perspective and renewed awe at the wonder of doing it. I am not going to tell you how old I am because I want no preconceived, stereotypically negative thoughts coming my way from silly you. Please keep those opinions to yourself. Do me that small favor. Let’s make the age numbers irrelevant in this conversation.

You might say that I am in the FALL of my years. But I will say that others might see me as still, just barely, hanging on to late SUMMER, because medically speaking I do have a nice long way to go. Think of me as Labor Day. My doctor thinks I am in great shape, and he does not follow that observation by adding “for someone your age.” If you have a good doctor, he/she  does not talk in chronological years. They talk in terms of quality years. They ask you what you are doing and what you eat and how you exercise and how you have fun. They want to know what you are up to right now.

Right now I am keeping my energy as pure as I possible can, on these fine days, guarding against negativity and mind pollution. I refuse to look at pictures of human suffering that are frighteningly disturbing  – images that I  cannot ever “unsee” and would haunt me and my dreams forever. After living this long, I have seen a lot, and although I am deeply effected by the misery of others, and my empathy is immeasurable, I no longer need to see those pictures. I can see it all without endless images parading before me. I also hope to keep a good grip on my time – how I spend my days. I will no longer squander my precious hours on people or places or even conversations that bring me down. Life is too brief to waste any of it on that kind of stuff.

I am breathing in the oxygen of these Fall days in big enthusiastic gulps that make my cheeks flush with color and my vision sharper. I see the big picture of life in 20/20 vision now, from where I am. It took me a lot of years but living this long is worth it. The view from here is clear and colorful and I notice the details better from this distance, which seems counter-intuitive. I have learned that you do not have to be right up on top of something to see the truth of it. So in spite of everything happening, I am optimistic about the future. I do have faith in the goodness and the intelligence of people to figure things out. We human beings – humankind – are so relatively speaking, new. In the overall universal scheme of things, we are but mere babies. We have much to learn; many seasons ahead of us.

Although I love that first snow, I hope your Fall is spectacular and that it stretches long past when the first flakes of winter come.