“Everything’s dying,” I heard the young girl whine to her mom as they walked in front of my house.
My large oak that stood tall in my front yard had been dropping its leaves for the last few weeks. It’s the first to bloom on our street and the first to shed. The girl skipped over the fallen leaves, crunching them with her heel, making a noise that can only be described as autumn.
“Can I have this leaf?” the girl asked me, holding up the scarlet foliage.
“Of course,” I smiled, “take as many as you’d like!”
Her mom chuckled as her daughter excitedly grabbed an armful of crimson, scarlet and golden leaves and tried to stuff them in her pockets.
“Have you ever seen fireworks?” I asked her while trimming my yellow mums.
She giggled and nodded.
“Well, autumn is like the grand finale of the fireworks. The leaves get so excited that they burst with color and prepare for the springtime to do it all over again!”
Her eyes grew wide and she bit her lip in thought before speaking. “So it’s not dying – it’s a dress rehearsal like when I practice my ballet and then I have a show.”
I looked at her mom in surprise at the sweet philosophical analogy and nodded, “Exactly!”
I thought of that same conversation as we said our goodbye to my {ex} father-in-law yesterday. Life is merely a dress rehearsal and it is even more spotlighted as we dive right into Mercury Retrograde and a Full Moon (more about that here) as October is the about anything with a re, as in re-birth and re-newel.
Two years ago I wrote Forevermore. Although I was scared to share the story, afraid of what others would think, I hesitated even publishing it – but it was like being pregnant. You can’t stay pregnant forever and you are never fully prepared despite how many books you read or classes you take, but you eventually have to birth the baby and deal with what is to come once all is said and done. And my baby is now out. I’m still scared. Scared nobody will come to the release party. Scared of what the critics have to say. Scared. And yet there is relief too.
The month of October is about focusing on the scarlet and gold in your life and not looking at the dead branches and falling leaves as depressing. It’s a time for rebirth, re-connections, renewal and re-beginnings.
Believe,
Kristy Robinett
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