It felt like the season of Fall came all at once this past week. The great finale of excitement that October often brings was to be found everywhere this year. From the ‘torture’ of Bay Area sports teams which brought us another World Series title, nature bringing us our first real rain in many weeks, and ghosts and goblins bringing tricks and treats to children across the city. Now that the sun is back out and the air has held on to the crispness of Fall it feels like a time to begin and contemplate all the transitions that we and our families have gone through this past year. Soon enough time will begin to feel sped up again as the family gatherings and travel requirements of the holidays approach.
I think back about all the stories that patients have shared with me over the last year of work in the clinic. Some joyous stories of weddings, births, and worldly adventures. Some that are sad because of chronic pain, emotional suffering, and the loss of close loved ones. I notice that my mind tends to focus on these polar ends of the joy/sadness spectrum and I feel less clear on all the stories and casual events that were shared with me by patients which fell somewhere in that neutral territory in between. Life’s memories seem to remain especially sharp when the emotional context was particularly intense, perhaps making a greater effort to impress upon our mind the relevance of that transition in our life.
Changes from birth to life always seem most clear to me in the season of Fall. Nature itself is pulling inward and becoming more dormant for the next few months. The shades of grass grow more pale and after one last brilliance of color the leaves fall from the trees. We should savor the introspection and even momentary melancholy of this moment to recall all the transitions of our past year. Many of the lessons will take time to extract meaning from, to find an opportunity for growth, and to place them into context as our lives move forward.
Fall is a wonderful season of memories and new plans for winter trips and the hope for Tahoe snow. I enjoy the opportunity to remember all the people who made up the stories that fill my mind when I think of 2014 and my time in the clinic and I look forward to the Winter months and the continuation of that path that I share with all of you.
While running in Connecticut I found these trails which crystallized the season for me. It felt like running through a tunnel of golden light and I felt like a kid again.
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