This is the season for the leaves to turn gold, scarlet, caramel and crimson. The chlorophyll breaks down in silence and gives way to the majestic fall colours that leave us in awe of the season. However, this autumn is different from all the other autumns I lived. There is a tinge of melancholy in every flaming orange, fiery red or warm yellow leaf. Last autumn, did we have the faintest idea what the next autumn might look like for us? Here in the US, COVID-19 has claimed more than 200,000 lives. As America braces for a likely second wave of the coronavirus, I see death, disease and despair in every yellowed leaf of maple, oak and sycamore.
I look forward to the kaleidoscope of colours autumn offers every year, but this year, I cannot rejoice in the bounties of nature. I am just not in the right state of mind. Instead, wherever I look, I perceive pain, loss and malady. When I call up family back home in Dhaka, I hear the news of another person falling ill to COVID-19. This has been a terrible, terrible year; I had not heard or read about so many deaths in a single year, and this year is not over yet.
My garden is perishing, like it does every fall, but I am suddenly too tired to rake the fallen leaves, cut the perennials, pull the weeds, and remove the spent annuals and seasonal vegetables. However, surviving this autumn and the upcoming winter housebound is going to be a test of patience and resilience. And even though, there will be days when it is going to be challenging, a back-breaking herculean task, I should not give up. I will remind myself that there is so much beauty in the masterpiece Mother Nature paints every autumn that I ought to appreciate her work. After all, there is hidden healing power in those gorgeous autumn colours!
Like season, everything changes in life. No two days are like. As I look out the window and notice green leaves turn a little yellower, redder or browner each day before falling to the street, grass or the water of a creek flowing gently, I figure that the trees are getting ready for the cold days ahead, just like me. I must learn from her. From her positive spirit, I should gather strength to pass the rest of this tragic year. There is so much to learn from nature, but only if I try to look a little harder.
The squirrels are busy scampering around, hiding and burying acorns and other nuts for the wintertime when food sources become scarce. They are also packing on extra pounds to stay warm as temperatures drop. The natural world prepares for the cold months, just like we do.
As days are getting shorter and nights longer and colder, as trees are preparing for dormancy by changing colours and shedding their leaves, I tell myself that “change is the only constant in life.”
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