Dear Mother Nature,
Are you not feeling well? I’m wondering if you’re going through “the change” offering an unsettling summer and surprising autumn. And how ’bout the Nor’easter that cancelled St. Patty’s Day parades earlier this year?
Was it night sweats or hot flashes that made our summer uncharacteristically rainy and humid? Or when you swooshed 81 degree night air through my moon roof late September, and 70 degree temps on Manhattan’s sidewalks the first week of November that plummeted to 20 degrees only days later?
Generations debated your behavior for over 200 years and I’m just as perplexed. Legions of soft leaves fell to the ground this summer amidst dizzying dog day temps. Itchy allergy season never ceased. Cucumber plants still loaded with blossoms in October bore no fruit, and tomatoes waited til autumn to ripen this year. Harvest was askew. Were you tired and sleeping late?
I understand if anxiety and depression are over-shadowing your concentration. It’s heartbreaking to watch people cast you aside like a battered wife while others honor and try to protect you. Perhaps your irritability is simply fighting back the only way you know how — launching hurricanes, earthquakes, fires and floods, one right after the other.
It may comfort you to know your panic attacks are gaining attention. A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll reported that weather tragedies recruited more believers in climate change.
Contemplating the paradox of pink roses with fallen pine needles and burgundy hardy mums, I wonder if you’ve misplaced your date book…are the changing seasons of my homeland lost with your youth — and mine?
Decades ago, I grew up with four distinctive seasons. Spring was spring; flowers bloomed, birds chirped, lighter coats replaced heavy wool. Summer felt hot; fans whirred and fireflies dotted nighttime skies. Walking on crunchy leaves in crisp autumn mornings transformed to warming hands around glowing bonfires. Winter’s beauty was in its starkness and alluring silence from newly fallen snow. Those were my reliable seasons until your mood swings took control. If you’re going to go through “the change,” do you think you could relax into year-round, sunny blue skies and 70 degree temps?
Are you observing changes in your own environment, like erratic temperatures this year? What do you think is happening with Mother Nature?
wRighTing My Life 