Posted in 2023, family, friends, Writing

Falling Leaves and Chill In The Air

What is your favorite type of weather?

I love fall in New England because it brings about the weather that brings back memories.

It brings me memories of Columbus Day off from school where the weather started out chilly but it would warm up quickly. It was our first holiday off in the school year. Six of us would borrow as many bikes as needed and ride out across town to a dairy restaurant for ice cream. it was a thrill to get from the town to the farm area and feel the heat off the road and the wind in my hair.

It bring me memories of sunny Sunday afternoon Pop Warner football games when our town had enough pre-teens to field enough football teams to play against each other. Warm enough still for no jacket in the afternoon, but “you might want one just in case”. My dad would bring us, either on bikes or walking, to the park where they played and see them out of the classroom and in their “other lives”.

It brings me memories of blue sky so bright it hurts your eyes on a warmer than normal Saturday afternoon. If you pause, you can feel the chill lurking behind the warmth. Those days were spent on the sidelines cheering on my high school football game. Loudly encouraging the fans to cheer and the team to score. There was excitement and anticipation in the air as you looked for friends in the stands waiting for the teams to play.

It brings the memories of the nighttime chill with a drop of heat of the Indian Summer still lingering. I would think, “I just have to be outside”. I would put on my heaviest sweater and just walk, look at the stars and feeling so alive. Feel like I could do anything, that there were so my opportunities coming.

I love fall for it’s memories.

Posted in family

What We Keep

I found this somewhere sometime in late 1986 or early 1987. I was in my “calligraphy phase” and I spent hours writing out poems and my name.

The day my mother died in early April of 1987 it rained and poured and the wind howled and all I could thing was “how appropriate”. She so young, her daughters so young.

I pictured her setting the wind and rain in motion to tell us how sorry she was to leave.

I had my cousin Ann read this during the funeral mass. I’m sure no one else felt the significance except me but I felt like I was telling her that I understood.