True Love

Two members of my chime choir have been flirting with each other for awhile now. It all began with a little note tucked into a music folder and led to heartfelt talks over dinner, long walks, and a sweet proposal. Love is difficult enough when you are young, but when you are middle aged, it is all the more rare and challenging. Yet this couple brings hope to all those of us who are older and single. I truly looked forward to this wedding because these two people know full well what they are getting into and are going there anyways.

I never saw a more radiant bride, a more humble groom. Truly, she just glowed with joy and happiness. What a treasure it must be to find a companion when you thought you would be alone for the rest of your life. Their joy wrapped her two daughters into the midst of their love and included them in every aspect of the wedding. Two daughters never looked more delighted to see their Mom remarry. I don't think bigger smiles exist.

My son's wedding was a picture book wedding, but this was a fairy tale story come true. The looks of adoration and tenderness freely flowed all evening. I was entranced, caught up in the bliss. There is hope. I even got in the bouquet tossing lineup (didn't catch the bouquet, but that's OK). And what fun the reception was! I loved chatting with friends at the table, laughing at the glass clinking calling for kissing (and ran to get chimes to ring just to augment the fun), seeing them take such delight in greeting family and friends, watching the daughters coax the unwilling on to the dance floor, dancing - it was a wonderful magical evening to remember for long nights to come.

I did not stay to see the happy couple off on their honeymoon ride to a cozy B&B in Ithaca. But I did rejoice with them as they enter this new chapter in their lives. I wish them many years of happiness - all crammed with the sweetness and joy of this their wedding day. May it never fade.

Leaves Galore

Fall is surely here. I haven't heard the official report, but I think this weekend and maybe into next weekend will be peak color season for our area. The yellows have brightened and the oranges and reds shimmer vivid against the blue of the sky. There is just something about encountering fallen leaves as I walk across campus. I can't resist shuffling my feet through the small drifts that blow over the sidewalks. I smile at the thought of the Peanuts cartoon picturing a lollipop plastered with leaves and a distraught Charlie Brown saying "Never jump in a leaf pile with a wet sucker."

I recall we kids raking huge piles of leaves, not to bag and remove them, but to jump into them over and over and over, laughing and rolling around, unmindful of the brown rustling leaves stuck in our hair and clinging to our jackets. We did our best to pick out any hurtful sticks, but it didn't seem to bother us that a small pile of leaves was no cushion against the hardness of the ground. The moldy earthy smell that made your nose sting was no deterrent either.

What did we see in the game of leaf pile raking and jumping? It was hard work for a few seconds of fun. Back in those days, we burned our leaves, right there at the curb of the road. The smudgy smoke left an acrid smell in the air and made it difficult to breathe, but that was the smell of autumn. Mold and smoke. And the leaf dust crumbling into everything - your shirt, your shoes, your socks. I wonder I didn't pick leaf bits out of my sheets for weeks afterwards!

Children nowadays don't jump into piles of leaves. Even if we didn't vacuum and shred them into bags, they would not find this a fun thing to do. The smells are definitely not acceptable much less the dirt. Nevertheless, those are great memories. I can still hear my brothers and sisters laughing, hear the crackle, rustle and swoosh of the leaves, smell the dank earth. Our last hurrah before the snow and cold drove us indoors for winter. I think I am in the mood for a little hurrah.

Field of Geese

Yesterday the farmer with the huge corn fields along Buffalo Road harvested his crop. When I drove by both in the morning and at lunch time, on my way to work, there were big combines and dump trucks and various other farm equipment parked along the road. The field on one side of the road was already mowed down and they were working on the other side. I wanted to pull over and watch for a bit, but the dust they were raising seemed a bit much to battle.

This morning, on the way to work, the field on the right side of Buffalo Road seemed dark. I wondered briefly if the reapers had come back and removed the corn stalk stumps, but on closer inspection, I realized that the entire field was covered with geese. What a majestic sight! There were hundreds of geese sitting calmly on the ground. Just sitting. Not eating or preening or squawking. Just there. I wonder what the attraction is for them. Perhaps the lure of the rich dark earth?

I half wished they would take to the skies while I was watching. That would have been an incredible sight as well. But they just sat there, oblivious to the traffic speeding past. What a glorious way to start an otherwise foggy gray day!