Dark Days of Autumn Rain

My sorrow, when she's here with me, thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare, the withered tree; she walks the sodden pasture lane.
Robert Frost
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The clouds surrounding Emporia, Kansas,  are pouring down rain today in a way that reminds me more of April than October. It seems so easy to believe that we are in early spring rather than nearing the middle of autumn. Winter will be here before we know it, evidenced by the smoky scent on the wet air and the changing colors of the leaves.

Outside of work and school, my days have been preoccupied with preparing myself and my living spaces for what I consider the end of the old year. My mind has been busy considering issues I have been putting off  and that should be completed before winter sets in. Cleaning and reorganizing has represented a big chunk of it, but dealing with health issues around my home has been another.

Even so, the latter half of October feels as if it is going to fly by. I'm just hanging on for the ride. Sometimes, it feels more as if I am hanging on for dear life more than I have a handle on the situation. Flexibility, I am told, is a very good thing. That might be my biggest life lesson to work through this season.

I'm ready to see pumpkins, costumes, my good friends, and a grand old tree in the heart of the woods surrounding ESU, as part of my October journeys.