At this time of my life, I recognize each day as a precious miracle. Suddenly in our third week of September we've hit a favorite time of year for me.
It is the subtle change that occurs between the waning days of summer and the start of the fall season. We shop on Mondays and when we walked out to the car this morning we could smell fall in the air. It was that hint of a chill that is the omen for the magical transformation time.
One of the favorite parts of the process is the color spectrum show that the foliage in Sacramento will present to us in the coming days. There will be bright reds, neon types of orange and all the colors in between. We often find ourselves pulling over to the side of the road with our cameras taking photos. Rachel lived on the east coast and talks about how impactful the tree color changes are in the fall but Iove the ones in Sacramento.
One of our rituals is the changing of the front. We have a front porch gathering of pumpkins and squash and corn stalks with an old tiny wagon. Our front door mat is a set of witche's feet appearing to disappear under our house at the front door. The pumpkin patches will be opening in another two weeks and each will be filled with kids and families.
Rachel's daughter has a big pumpkin carving event at their 'campus' for all the kids (though I think it is for the adults!). She actually has a book of pumpkin carving templates along with sets of special carving tools. Every year when the display of pumpkins are lit up and a winning pumpkin has been chosen the winner is incredibly complex.
This is the portal to the best time of the year. It is that time from Halloween to New Year's when the world rediscovers in a deeper way the connection of love. Huge acts of kindness occur all across the United States.
I remember when I got married the second time. I ended up marrying a woman with four kids and suddenly we were a family. We moved my wife and the kids from Reno to Sacramento and rented a house. At that point, we used most of our funds to get into the rental and we had just finished Thanksgiving.
I was working a minimum wage job along with other side jobs to make ends meet for the basics. We had put together enough funds to get a small Christmas tree and we used ornaments and decorations that my new wife had brought with her. There was a lot of love but no money as we sat one night. We had put the kids to bed with a story and things were quiet.
Suddenly the doorbell rang and we wondered who would be visiting us late at night. We wnet to the door and on the doorstep sat four or five sacks of food of all types - including an entire turkey dinner. We checked and no one was there. We took the food in, put it away, and prayed in gratitude for our blessings from someone.
Two or three nights later we were sitting with the kids at our huge dining room tables playing games. Again the doorbell rang and this time we rushed to the door hoping to catch someone this time. When we opened the door there stood a young man we had never seen before. He was huge at 6 foot 4 inches. He smiled and asked if we were the Lyman's; we replied yes. Then he handed us two huge canvas bags, smiled and said "These are for you" and wished us happy holidays. Then he walked off into the night. We asked him questions as he left but they fell against his receding back. The canvas bags were filled with wrapped Christmas presents of all shapes and sizes.
Finally it was two or three nights before Christmas Eve. Again we were filled with gratitude and were holding a family gathering giving thanks. We were going to have holiday meals and were going to share Christmas presents - and we had no idea who was providing the blessings.
The doorbell rang and again we rushed to the door. There was no one there. We looked out onto the street and it was empty. As we came back to the house, we noticed an enveloped taped to the front door. In the envelope was a Christmas card and the envelope was labeled "The Lymans." When we opened the card it wished us a merry Christmas and in the card were five one-hundred dollar bills. It was the most magical Christmas of our lives.
Our family in that second marriage was together for another six years before we parted ways. Each Christmas we chose a family and showered the chosen family with gifts and some cash anonymously.
Thus my heart still swells because during the season coming up human beings remember in a deeper way what love is all about and how much we truly care for each other. Share your heart this season in a deeper way. Value someone for the Divine you see before you!
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