MAE JULIAN
Fleeting Fall
Dear Readers,
I know it is just an “optical illusion” type thing, but why is it that winter is twice as long as fall?‑ I love autumn. It has all the attributes that I require for complete happiness.‑ The weather is cool, and brisk, not too hot, not too cold. The trees are in splendor, each year more beautiful than the last. There is an urgency to get everything done before it is “too late.” Raking, winterizing, preparing for the cold months ahead.
I look at Lulu, and see in her all the things that I see in fall. A beauty who is still wrapped in childhood,‑holding onto her security blanket.‑ It is a quilt I made for her years ago, shortly after she was born. It is in tatters, and she refuses to have it washed any more. I do think it would fall apart if I tried to wash it even one more time. She calls her quilt, “Frog” because, in the simple matter-of-fact way children think and reason, it has a repeated frog on it. The funny thing is, I did not make “Frog”‑as a “best quilt” for her. . I made a much more “thought out” and time-consuming quilt for her birth, just as I had for her siblings before her.‑ Frog came about because I had the fabric, no particular pattern in mind, and had a day with nothing to do. So…”Frog” was born.
It is almost prophetic in that nothing we plan in life turns out the way we think it will, anyway, and we give ourselves over to the grand plan not of our making. Frog has been with Lulu through tears, happiness, and two lost teeth. He has been dragged along behind her, laid upon, thrown up on, peed on and, used as a blanket for her dolls. He has taken on a life of his own as her pal.
But, just as fall will turn into winter, and the leaves will abandon the trees, Lulu will grow up, and Frog will someday be left behind. I’m sure if I asked Lulu, she would declare in her “oh- so -grown- up- reasoning” way that she will carry Frog down the aisle when she gets married.‑ But Frog will be only a memory someday, just like her name, “Lulu,” will fade into the past. She already is being called by her given name at school. Lulu is becoming Lauren. Frog is becoming a rag. The leaves are abandoning the trees, and I am becoming …well, older.
Many blessings,
Mae
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