Changing Season

Have you noticed?

The days are getting shorter. The sun is lower in the sky. The shadows are longer.

The season is changing.

I love the fall. I don't know why.

School starts in the fall. I hated going back to school. I hated school...except for band. I loved band.

Somehow, though, when the frost is on the pumpkin I feel the most alive.

I was thinking on this long and hard the other day, just before the season in my life changed.

I have been teaching one day a week at a university that will remain un-named for the last seven years. Even though the instrumental music department is small and I only had a few flute students, I continued making the trip down the freeway week after week. I love to teach and I cared about the students.

Things started going south last fall. The details are not important. It started to become clear, though, that the season was changing.

Sadly, this semester, try as I might, change teaching days though I might, a studio schedule could not be resolved. I regretfully notified the music office that I would be unable to continue teaching on campus.

30 seconds later another person had taken over the teaching position.

Hmmmmm...was that a set-up?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Does it matter?

No.

I feel better than I have in years. I am grieving the loss, but I am rejoicing in the freedom. I feel as if a huge weight has been lifted from me. I have one less day on the freeway. I have one more day to practice, clean house, work out, stop to smell the roses, go to Disneyland...

Seasons do change. It is right and good for them to change. Each season brings its own special purpose.

Meanwhile, I think I finally might have figured out why fall is my favorite season of all.

Fall is the time of harvest.

May your harvest be rich and pletiful this fall!