Every once in a while life delivers a truckload of troubles. I have noticed as we age, these troubles worsen in scope and frequency. Sometimes we feel so discouraged with so much bad news, that Shakespeare’s Hamlet called “slings and arrows that come not in single spies, but whole battalions ….” that we lose sense of the many blessings we do enjoy in life.
So many blessings are free for the asking. Blessings come like pollen in the wind, secretively, softly, floating down from the air that we breathe in with every breath that fills every pore of our body with life, warmth and good news. Part of the good news is we are still not taxed by town, state and federal governments for every breath we inhale, but I do believe one day our forebears will surely be taxed according to the number of breaths taken! It’s just a matter of time. So, let’s enjoy it while we can!
Fall is the time for thankfulness, the time when crops are ripe in the field and ready to be harvested, the time when families gather together to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday where we all think (sometimes for the very first time!) of the year of riches from all the beauty of the world that surrounds us.
How we take life and earth and all the many species of life for granted, as if we are enabled to have them, as if we have earned them, as if we should have them go on at our command for ever and ever.
My blessings now that I am aging include simply the ability to walk around a few blocks each day in the town of Urbanna. I see the sights of various dogs along the way, if I’m lucky I get a pat or two off on some lovely dog’s head. And I experience the peace and quiet in my own backyard where I spend many hours on my swing looking at the summer flowers still in bloom on the back patio, in glory just to see the sunshine work its way through the shiny leaves of camellia, holly and ligustrum bushes or the frothy green spray of pine moving ever so slightly in the river breeze.
Especially breathtakingly lovely is birdsong. How I love to hear the birds sing!
But if anyone could have told me when I was a younger woman that such marvels would mean so much to me in future years I would have been astounded. Or that I would treasure such sensations down the road. And how I wish I had been so attuned to the blessings of life much earlier in my own life and had not lived for so many years just taking all that I savor now so much for granted.
Close encounters with wildlife make living in Urbanna so special. Giant, perhaps 100-year-old turtles, live in the ravine water on Kent Street. Jack Pitts used to have them trained to come up into his yard when he struck two rocks together. It was thrilling watching these huge turtles come slowly out of the water and up the slope to feed on leftovers he would give them … kind of like watching a prehistoric show on reptiles from long ago.
I saw a mountain lion at my window one night staring at me when we were living in the cottage across the street from our home now. Only a screen separated us as we went eyeball to eyeball staring at each other in wonder. As I looked over the beautiful detail of his body… small trim head with wicked eyes, massive hind end which allowed him to leap up into a tree and climb up to our roof in the first place, and a long tail with a tuff of fur at the tip that he dragged behind him are etched in my memory.
Raccoons are a dime a dozen in Urbanna. I especially like to see the mothers and their kits running after them usually after dark.
One night I saw seven raccoons lined up on the top of my roof looking down at me. That was a record. They of course ate cat food I would leave out each day for the feral cats. And yes, I feed feral cats. I know many do not approve of feeding Urbanna’s feral cats, but I find I can’t sit by and let them starve.
One day I was startled to see an owl peeking out at me at my eye level from the lower branches of a maple tree on Kent Street. How startled I was to see him! An owl is very large, and his beak is fearful. I suppose he was hungry and looking for something good to eat. It was a frightening sight.
It’s time now for me to take a break from writing my weekly column and take care of some health issues that have come my way. But I will be back, I have already started a new fictional comedy set in Urbanna involving a neighborly clash of egos between a Navy admiral and an Army general that end up living next door to each other and being involved in a dispute over a right of way. I already have fallen in love with my cast of one-of-a-kind small-town characters. I hope to return with this series in a month or two.
In the meantime, enjoy the fall and especially Thanksgiving and savor the cooler weather that is so good for walking the streets of Urbanna. And give thanks for life and love and the hope at long last for peace in the Middle East.
