Gratitude. Day One - "to every thing, there is a season"

Stephanie, my often inspiring friend, gave me this idea. Read her week of gratitude posts. They are wonderful. With her, I am going to emphasize the joy of Thanksgiving, before the commercial onslaught of Christmas (which it seems has already begun) by writing here, for several days, about a few of the many things for which I feel grateful.

Today, I feel grateful for seasons that, as the song says, "turn,turn,turn" - that everything changes and moves into a new stage or season. I love the season of the year that we are in right now - autumn, with its' reds and yellows appearing more boldly than they ever have since I moved to Georgia. I had been complaining about missing the leaves of the Northeast and then, the color happened, down here! This probably has something to do with the drought, doesn't it? But it sure is magnificent.

I am also grateful for those seasons of life that are not determined by moving closer or further from the sun, but by the revolution of our planet - by time moving forward. I have spent most moments of my 43 years in this life wishing to stop time, to seize this day, and keep the night and the unknown from changing what I know, and/or taking what I love.

But as I get older, I feel less grasping about time. I am starting to appreciate the impermanence - probably not enough, but more.

Sometimes it is extremely easy to embrace the end of a season. Today marks the last game of Gillen's Galaxy Soccer Team's season. It has been a long one. We have been getting together three to four times a week, since the beginning of August, for long practices and games, sometimes driving over two hours to get to a game. They played through summer's heat waves and then yesterday, at 8am, in frost. As I approached the field yesterday morning, the white grass and the breath stealing quality of the frozen air reminded me of the frozen ponds of Mass., where we used to play hockey.

So I welcome the end of this season, while being thankful for what it brought. Gillen experienced being teased for the first time and then got to experience the satisfaction of those who had been teasing him running to his side to support him when he was kicked by the worst offender. Watching him relate that story, with tears of pride and completion in his eyes, was powerful. He knows how much they respect him for the unusual way he responded to their meanness.

And yes, he learned a lot about soccer. He improved a lot and showed himself to be a talented, passionate player. But he may be ready to move on to another sport next season - gymnastics - for which my temperature-sensitive feet are enormously grateful.