Seasons Collide

This weekend we drove to the mountains to see the changing leaves with a few thousand of our closest friends. We debated going as the weather was calling for rain, but since it was our last chance to catch Mother Nature’s fall spectacular we decided to go.

Sunday morning we awoke to a mix of rain and snow and a balmy temperature of 38 degrees. As we began our ascent up the pass and into the clouds, we quickly surmised that this wasn’t going to be our normal leaf viewing trip. There was fresh snow mixed in with the aspens and as we looked ahead we could see the snow moving in. It was actually a pretty amazing view and I said to Andy, “the seasons are colliding.” While in Colorado, the seasons often get confused about whose turn it actually is to exert their dominance we tend to see it more in the Spring. For example, a late snow storm that kills everything that has worked so hard to bloom is commonplace in the month of May. It isn’t every year though that as our leaves hit their peak of changing colors that the snow is simultaneously ushered in by Mother Nature.

As we took photos of the beautiful golden leaves, I was in awe of the collision that was taking place before our eyes. It made me think of how often we, as people, also have seasons that collide. How many times over the course of your own life have you had these moments? Sometimes they can be two things that you love equally but they just can’t happen at the same time and you must make a difficult choice. Other times the course we are currently on bumps into something completely unwanted and unforeseen. Try as we might, we often can’t get around the collision and we must wait it out.

As a parent I have been witness to many collisions in my own family from growing pains and unwanted illnesses to just differing opinions from strong-willed children. It feels like our seasons of life have been colliding for a few years now. As soon as we begin to get used to a new way of doing things, someone else moves out or back in.

When our middle daughter started dropping not-so-subtle hints about moving to Nashville at 18, but not attending school, that was a slow motion collision that is still working itself out. Sure, she moved and she has been there for over two years, but when life takes unexpected turns it takes some getting used to. We aren’t completely there yet.

Our oldest moved back home after graduation and is in the process of interviewing for Physician Assistant graduate programs around the country. We hope she gets to stay here and go to school, but we don’t get to choose. So we wait. Regardless of where she goes she will be moving out. There will once again be changes and rest assured there will be a collision of opinions and feelings and probably many more things I can’t even fathom at the moment.

It isn’t supposed to snow while there are still leaves on the trees in September or after our tulips have bloomed n May, but it does. Some people, just like plants and trees, need time to recover from the unforeseen changes. While some of us may be excited about the early snow and contemplating playing some Christmas music others are lamenting the end of our long summer days and warm temperatures.

Today, I am just going to sit in awe of how the seasons change and rest in the knowledge that so many before us have not only survived but thrived amidst the worst of collisions.