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Historically,
this is the period when businesses, on a fiscal
calendar, are forced to confront the budget and
related difficult decisions for the upcoming
year. This is never a fun experience and worse,
by contrast, it coincides with what I have
always found to be the most beautiful time of
year… early Autumn through January.
Growing up in the Northeast, I always imagined
that the fall foliage was a sort of launch point
for the succession of cooler weather (I dislike
heat and humidity), Halloween, Thanksgiving,
anticipating Christmas, decorating for
Christmas, Christmas, absence of school, New
Years, snow, sledding, snow ball fights, snowman
construction, etc. Stated differently, it was a
period made for kids when you spent three whole
months of building excitement that climaxed with
an explosive conclusion -Christmas (even if
Christmas, for our family, was modest by most
measures). How could a child ask for more?
I have enjoyed, to varying degrees, Autumn - now
57 times. In the worst of years (weather,
health, personal fortune, etc.) it never
disappoints. Some years, the colors are such
that it presents a spectacle beyond the capacity
of the human senses to capture and appreciate.
Other years, due to wind and rain, the colors
appear muted, pass quickly, and the only thing
remaining is the leaves - to be gathered and
disposed. Even in these diminished years, the
event is rich because it is the progenitor
moment of a greater experience left
undiminished… Autumn through January.
And then there is the budget. |
