“Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first September was crisp and golden as an apple.”
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Yesterday afternoon I stood on the campus of Randolph-Macon College waiting for the day’s festivities to end. The younger offspring and I had spent the day getting oriented to campus life.
He starts class on Monday. He’s in both the Honors Program and the Leadership Program.
Sure he took some time off after high school. Considering that it included forty-seven years of house arrest that turned out to be a good thing.
At the parents’ table I was offered the chance to write a goodbye note and was offered a pack of tissues.
I may or may not have said I needed the tissues because I was taking him home. He’s commuting.
But this miracle child who came into the world ten weeks early at two and a half pounds is on his way.
Any concerns about how he’ll do were soundly dismissed when he said “I really like this library.”
I’m actually writing this on Thursday evening sitting on the campus green.
As I feel the warmth of the sun shining through the maples, I realize that it’s an autumn sun. Even though the end of summer is still three weeks away, this is not the sun I sat under just a few weeks ago at the beach.
The Write Side Shop (click the image)
This is a time of transition.
My son is transitioning into a college student.
Summer is transitioning into fall.
And at the stroke of midnight, all across the country, flip flops are transitioning into pumpkins.
I will always be a child of the summer. It will always be my favorite season.
But I do love fall. The cooler temperatures. Sweaters and flannel. Hokie football. Apple cider. Bonfires.
And the changing, if not the falling, of the leaves.
I love Halloween as well. The past two years I acted in haunted attractions. This year, for reasons you’ve surely read about, I won’t be doing that.
It’s all about transitions. Without them, life would be pretty boring.
We get a good balance of the seasons here in Virginia.
To paraphrase Dorothy Gale, seasons come and go so quickly here.
There’s a bit of a respite here as I continue to wait on campus. And we’re heading into a three day weekend.
But we’re transitioning into the busy season of fall.
Should you be so inclined, I’ll be happy to show you where my rake is.
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Yesterday afternoon I stood on the campus of Randolph-Macon College waiting for the day’s festivities to end. The younger offspring and I had spent the day getting oriented to campus life.
