Wondering, Wandering, and Writing

Colorful leaves

Cooling temps

Hayrides

Pumpkin spice

Sweaters

Bonfires

New beginnings

Wait a minute.

Those first things are fall things.

New beginnings? In the fall?  No!!  Fall is the ending of things.  Dying leaves.  Trees that look dead.  The end of daylight.  Okay, no, not really, but the shorter days grieve my soul. New things are supposed to happen in the spring.  Or summer when the garden harvest is in full swing.  Or maybe late summer when football season starts.  But October??  New things?  I’m kidding, right?

Nope.  I am not kidding.  October, 2022.  New things.  And I am so very grateful.

Mid-month my favorite aunt, aka my “ ‘nuther’ mama,”  and I were shopping in Hobby Lobby.  I have crocheted off and on since I was too young to remember when I learned how.  I have tried a few times to knit.  I can’t do it.  Something about two needles instead of one and the coordination required made it impossible.  I mentioned that as I looked at darling patterns for — you guessed it — knitted items.  The kicker was a hat kit for children.  Each kit was just a small skein of yarn and a head of a Sesame Street character.  But I fell in love — okay, probably lust —- with them.  My dear aunt said something like, “You’re so talented in things like that.  If you try it, you’ll get it. You’ll figure it out.”  Into the buggy went two hat kits, a learn-to-knit kit which included all the paraphernalia I remember my mama having, a few extra skeins of yarn, and a pair of needles the size required for the hats.

After a few false starts, including a humorous moment when I somehow had the yarn I needed to be working with at the wrong end of the needle, I managed to knit what could be the beginning of a scarf.  It was so full of mistakes I cast off the stitches and started on something else.  But that little scrap is a new thing for me, and I am thrilled to be learning something new while I am  on the plus side of sixty.

About the same time, the fine arts time at our coop began studying basic music theory and learning how to play a simple song on the tin whistle.  This is our third year with this experience, but it is the first time I have also attempted to play to the tin whistle.  It’s fun :). 

That made two new things in October.  Maybe I’m not so very old after all.

And then the last week of the month. 

Back in August, I had mentioned to our choir director and pastor that I might be interested in filling in as pianist from time to time.  The real need was for someone to play parts during choir practice.  I can handle that, so I started attending choir practice and took home a couple books to practice.  One Sunday in October a chain of events happened that could not have been happenstance.  The end result was that our choir director knew I was willing to play on Sunday morning.  The next week he asked if I could accompany during the morning service.  Of course I said yes.  Sometime between that moment and Sunday morning, I realized that Sunday would be the fourth anniversary of our son’s death.  Suck it up, buttercup, it’s showtime! I messaged my prayer support folks and they covered me in prayer.  I don’t think I told anyone at church about the anniversary until that evening at choir practice. While playing the piano that Sunday was not a completely new thing, it was the first time I had played for a congregation since a while before our son died.  If I had realized the significance, I would have still said yes, probably after hesitating a bit.  I’m glad I said yes.  I now have a new, happy memory for that date.

So YES, Fall can be a time for new things 😊.

Enjoy the holiday season that is fast approaching.  Be brave.  Try a new thing.  Even if your heart is hurting, when another part of your heart yearns for something a little different – a different food, a new road trip, a new hobby, a new book – be brave and try.

#bgwww22