Autumn, the last burst of colours

I realized over the weekend that I really love the fall. Autumn. Even the name sounds romantic. I love the colours. The crispness in the air. The transition where I know the dark is coming and the light is fading but the days are bright. I love the oranges, the yellows. The reds. The golds. The warmth and earthiness of Fall.

The season where a lot of nature is preparing to go to sleep through the darkness. Where some trees can’t sustain themselves through the winter so they decide to sleep through the dark times to reawaken when the spring comes. When the light comes. Fresh. Rejuvenated. Full of life again.

I love watching the leaves drifting to the ground. As if they are doing their last dance. Their last pirouette before they succumb to the soil. The gracefulness in the moments before they dance no more.

I love the unfiltered light of the day when the haze lifts and goes away. Because the humidity recedes. Where greens become greener. Blues magical. Reds scarlet. Oranges pumpkin. Where everything is so vivid that you can almost feel the soothing of the cooling air replacing the wretched heat of the summer.

I was driving down the South Shore along the stretch by the Botanical Gardens and the beauty of the changing trees took my breath away.  The sight was totally unexpected because we don’t see many fall colours on the trees here as most of our trees are evergreens considering we are subtropical. But having that experience of seeing the colours of autumn even if for a short while filled me with joy.  Giving me space to breathe again. To inhale. To appreciate. To see the abundance of nature all around me.

I slowed down and took my time allowing the feeling of change to wash over me. To witness that nature knows there is a season to everything. A time to live and a time to die. A time to rejoice and a time to cry. A time to grow and a time to stagnate. A time to love and a time to hate. A time and a season for it all but knowing all the time that as the seasons change, everything and everyone has a turn at some point in their lives.

And then I drove on feeling nature embracing me after feeling my embrace. The memory of that special moment forming a permanent picture in my brain. And for the seasons and my awareness of them I am truly grateful. Because I know that sometimes I will be up and sometimes I will be down in  this journey called life but if I remember everything has a season including me, I will ride through each one just fine. That 's why I love autumn because it's the season where nature gives us her most varied and vivid colours. The last burst of colours just before she fades and goes to sleep for the winter. Namaste.