Calmly, I sit by my window on a rainy, late August morning, my thoughts roll back to earlier summer months. May comes to mind with its early spring buds. Daffodils, narcissus, tulips push through the warming ground to bright sunlight. June explodes with nature in full bloom. Birds cheer from the thicket, trees burst forth in full leaf, and grass is green and lush.
July and August offer months of freedom for children to cherish. Brides and grooms offer their lives to each other. For students, it’s a time of happy holidays. Fun and freedom abound as life changes gears. Family vacations, staycations and everything in between become the norm. Reunions, barbecues and outdoor living spring up everywhere. Regular, bountiful rain and life-giving showers are generously bestowed on the earth and gratefully received.
However, as I ponder wonderful summer, an unease stirs within me. The rain seems wetter, colder, more persistent under thick, low-hanging gray skies. My mind turns to those in our beloved country who suffer under forest fires and long for blessed rain to relieve their misery. Theirs has been a summer of danger and grief bringing with it lives forever changed. While we have rejoiced these many weeks, they have lived with despair.
Musing on life’s blessings and challenges, I sense in the air a hint of fall to come. Nostalgia visits my heart. Summer is waning. Sunrise appears a little later; I begin the struggle of rising in the dark. Is this the first whiff of the coming cocooning and hibernation? Holidays are dwindling. Stores are hacking back-to-school supplies. Routine is on the horizon.
Sadly, there were no holidays, barbecues or fun in the sun for families in the furnace of forest fires. I wonder will their workplaces still exist? Will children return to school as usual? One can only hope and pray for winds to turn direction and copious rain to fall upon the burning inferno. Meanwhile, let us hold in our hearts those who knew not summer’s joys. - Sr. Jean Moylan, csj