I was driving to work today and despite the humid air from the hurricane, the trees are turning on the edges, a pile of yellow and russet colored leaves stirred as I took a turn on a country road. I love the fall and when we lived out in California missed the shift of seasons – it’s always provoked a bittersweet nostalgia which, I would venture, has a lot to do with letting go of the summer. As a sailor on the east coast I can still look forward to some weeks of sailing (when the hurricanes are passed) but the end is near and soon it will be time to put things away. It got me to thinking about letting go; specifically how I didn’t have to in San Francisco…we sailed through the winter on the Bay. Though I very much miss sailing year round I find that I appreciate the time I have on the water more living on the east coast. I don’t take continuity for granted given the imperative of the seasons. I savor the moment. And when the weather begins to warm again…that first day of sailing after a long winter of thinking about it is so very sweet. There was a time that I lived like a migratory bird and lit out for Florida bound for the Caribbean come October. But I’ve let go of that life too, at least for now. I guess there’s a theme here...
4 comments:
Back in May you wrote about sailing Wednesday evenings at Cedar Point YC in Westport,CT. A few days ago you wrote about how much you enjoy sailing a Laser. And now you talk as if the season is nearly over...
Aren't you going to extend your sailing season by joining the Laser frostbite sailors at Cedar Point. Just over 3 weeks to the start of the season!
Thank you for the reality check ;-) Laser frosbiting at Cedar Point is not something I've done yet...but you are right it would be a GREAT way to carry on through the winter and not get so damned morose about the end of the traditional season. Tillerman you are a true asset!
See you there
I didn't think California had seasons either, until my family in San Diego insisted otherwise. But it is all relative. In Hong Kong, where, to me, it is uniformly hot and humid most of the year, the natives insist that they have wonderful variety of seasons, and they savor them. They also sneer at Singapore, much nearer the equator, where, they say, there are no seasons. Yet, the Singaporeans too claim othewise, and track the change of their seasons by the shift of the monsoon winds, from humid and rainy SW in the summer, to dry NE, in the winter.
Variety is the spice of life.
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