Thursday- September 30, 2021

Dear Marion,

  It’s the last day of September and I am loving the weather and the beautiful colors and textures. Each day this past week has brought a different perspective and appreciation of where I live and what I can experience. One morning the temperature dropped and brought with it a layer of fog hovering over the lake. Living at the beach, I am familiar with fog rolling in regularly, but the smoke-like fog rising over the lake with surrounding woods and adjacent winding creek created a whole other vibe. The leaves have begun to change colors and the path and sidewalks have the occasional grouping of dropped leaves. As I stepped in for a closer look at some leaves, I heard a blip and immediately thought another fish was dramatically jumping as they have been recently during my walk. Craning my neck to see into a cluster of bushes, wings fluttered and lifted in one fell swoop. Jumping back, my heart racing as I realized a large heron or egret had gracefully launched into the air a few feet in front of me. This wasn’t a fish, but simply an unexpected beautiful scene before me and the early rising sun. 

  There were sun-kissed ripples in the water and a multitude of leaves with dimples and torn pieces creating new shapes even a heart. That heart-torn leaf reminded me of an old word(new to me) I stumbled across from Word Genius- Rimple. The definition of Rimple is to form small folds or undulations; to wrinkle; especially (of water) to ripple. I happen to think Rimple sounds just as it is spelled and I liked it. There was some sort of fruit or nut that landed with a loud bang and I noticed there were so many of these almost handball-sized things that fell from the tree. On the tree, they appear to be lush and lime green in color with some prickly texture, by the time they ripen and fall they are smooth. Maybe the squirrels or some other animal cracks them open to reveal the most beautiful color of chocolate brown mixed with charcoal and eventually they get smashed on the path to create patterns. I know this is a stretch but it reminded me of aging and how we view young adults' skin, taut bodies, and faces through the aging process. By the time we approach 40 or 50 (and if we are lucky older) wouldn’t it be wonderful if we saw the beauty in the laugh lines around our eyes, wrinkles, jowls, and the scars that we may have attained as they all contain stories and experiences that we should find interesting and beautiful. So often we stretch and lift our skin or fill it to make it look prettier and younger. I suppose it’s not much different from bleaching my skin to remove dark sun/age spots or wearing cover-up makeup.

  Pumpkin picking and apple picking have been a part of my fall season for two decades now and it seems to not matter whether it is raining, windy, overcast, or beautiful and sunny, we have a good time. This year it was a beautiful day and the colors were jaw-dropping. Pumpkins are ‘rimpled’- they are beautiful in all of their glory. Everyone gets excited to choose a pumpkin and they are appreciated by their color, size, and shape. Oh, how lovely if we could appreciate ourselves and all of the other humans on this planet the way we do pumpkins on pumpkin picking day. The apples were also enjoyed although with COVID we were encouraged not to sample until we washed them at home. I did miss that part. There were 7or 8 types available and each flavor of course is unique to that type, but I was really hoping for the crisp and tart types that you and I enjoyed together. All of this fall activity inspired your granddaughter to create a new cookie, one that embodied the flavor of the apple and the cinnamon and sugar we so often associate with this season, but not too sweet. Bella’s Mini Treats were created in the shape of leaves and baked crispy to enjoy with hot cider or hot chocolate. 

  I picked up a book from your granddaughter’s bookcase, “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig, as the story was created around the idea of choices we make or don’t make during the course of a lifetime. The main character is caught in a place between life and death. This place, The Midnight Library, is filled with books containing the lives that the main character can choose from to see where and who she would be with different decisions made in her life thus far. I remember something you used to say to me, ‘not making a choice is also making a choice’, and oh how true I have found that to be for me. 

  Twice this week from two different sources I heard the same quote so it felt like I should share it with you. Each interviewer was discussing the damage of hanging onto grudges and regret. Dax Shepard (Armchair Expert Podcast) remembered hearing it in AA and Sarah Haines (The View) quoted Buddha “Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die”. Reading this book and the winding path it takes and listening to these separate interviews reminded me how important it is to challenge ourselves not to live in regret. Mistakes we can make, they can be positive, that's how we grow. 

  We have a group of daisy bushes that border the end of our driveway and they bloom this time of year. They loyally bloom each year. I never planted them and rarely water but they layer in color and appear so bright just when we are saying goodbye to the garden. They often are rimpled, a bit imperfect, and I like them just as they are right where they are giving our family, neighbors, and me some joy.

Talk soon,

Forever Yours

Quote:

“When you’re good to others, you’re best to yourself.”

Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1748

Benjamin Franklin

1706-1790