Today is November 8th 2011 and it is election day here in Kentucky. I love the Fall, there is something about the crispness of the air mixed with the color of the leaves on the trees that really appeals to me and always has. When I felt the coolness of the morning air I couldn’t help thinking of morning I can remember living in Southern California. I have many good memories of SoCal, walking through the desert to school, driving with my step father into the valley to a job, and my time while I was stationed at Miramar walking what we called the Ho Chi Minh trail to class at Castle Grey skull. I think of marching band competitions when I feel the crispness of the air, both of my kids competed in marching band and my wife and I were always there working with the kids and watching them compete. I also think of craft sales and harvest festival when I think of Fall, I enjoy walking them with my wife. We drink the apple cider and eat the apple fitter and take in all that Fall has to offer. Most of the pumpkin patches on River Road are gone now. Forced out by progress, or liability insurance, how sad this is that my grandchildren won’t be able to enjoy these Fall festivities, they will only hear about the stories of years gone by. I don’t like what comes next, …Winter. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m getting older, or if it’s because I have so many plants I have to drag in each year. Maybe it’s what Winter symbolizes that doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t like the finality that Winter represents, a completeness of a life cycle. I don’t embrace death well, and most people don’t. I have been in studies that have talked about the winter of marriage, or the winter of life, this always brings my spirit down. I don’t like winter,regardless of the context we are speaking of. I don’t like the cold penetrating winds, I don’t like the death associated with it, I don’t like ice and poor driving conditions. The only thing I find good about winter is the beauty of snow on a undisturbed landscape, or the sun glistening off ice in a creek bed, other than that I could do without Winter. Take me to a tropical climate where life never ends do to cold. I could live without winter and all that is associated with it.

Michael

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