Turning Over A New Leaf

Many things can happen while out early and taking a five mile walk in the morning. That's exactly what I was doing this morning when I decided to try to have a change of heart about something that has always been with me. Fall - Autumn.

I don't think I'm alone, when I say I have never really cared much for fall. And with reason I guess. I like the warm weather and fall usually signifies the end of all that. With fall here, winter can't be too far away. Years ago, I learned of my dads cancer in the fall. ?As a kid school started in autumn. Plus every broken heart I've ever received or dished out has been in the fall. Coincidence? I don't know. But I know that the common denominator is not simply autumn.....but me too.

And even this week it continued when I received some sad news in my personal life, I thought man, another fall flop. But then a different colored light went on. As bright and as different as the leaves on the trees outside my office window right now. Maybe I've been looking at this fall business all wrong all these years. My partner on the show, Sue Wilson has always sung the praises of the third season. And as I walked today I decided that maybe her lead is one worth following. And she's not alone either. Many people love the fall.

Funny though, musically fall songs are always kind of sad ones. Autumn Leaves, September Song, Sealed With A Kiss, and there are others. Maybe to many fall represents the end, or the beginning of the change of things. Many people don't like change, so we sing about how much we don't like the end or the change. Hard to find a happy fall song.

So this year in attempting to turn over a new leaf, it's time to think of this season in new terms. This year it's the smell of the turkey and dressing. It's drives on state routes in that late afternoon. It's really noticing the brilliant colors that God and mother nature have teamed up to give us this year. It's also knowing I'll be taking a couple of trips to Florida to golf in the warm, when the rest are in the cold up here for a day or two. It's knowing that holiday visits with friends and family are coming.

On the show, it's Sue and I having fun discussing Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the first snow of the year with you! It's also looking forward to the light shortened days when Sue and I face the challenge of early morning drives to work in less than favorable conditions safely. Then embracing the busy morning with school closings and weather updates that are sure to come. It's the all part of the necessary around here, that wraps around and starts the cycle over again. In Akron, there is no warm without the cold first and last. It's the seasonal cycle of our lives.

Maybe it's your year to possibly rethink fall. I feel a weight of sorts off me today putting aside the usual gloom of fall, and trying to let in a whole new light. Early morning fall walks can do that. Looking at the colorful world in a brilliant sunrise, with just enough degrees to make it feel great. I recommend it highly. I do feel a bit lighter today, and that's energizing. Energy I'm going to need today while turning over that new leaf........

The leaves that I have to go out......(um).....leaves that I get to go out and rake right now.