Good Morning!
As I’ve talked about here, I have a complicated relationship with fall. It is beautiful. It is probably the best weather we have all year, consistently, in West Virginia. The community festivals and dinners and ball games - the sense that we are all in it together, is one of the best parts of living here.
It is also a time where we have experienced great loss and sorrow, and it always is tinged bittersweet for me, leading to long introspective drives through the mountains where I ponder my own mortality, and whether I’m living my best life or not.
These contrasts then feel appropriate - when I look out at these mountains in fall, I’m reminded of my grandmothers patchwork quilts. Often started in the fall as an over-winter project, they were full of colors and love and memories. Much like this place.
I leave today with an Emerson quote - “We do not live an equal life, but one of contrasts and patchwork; now a little joy, then a sorrow, now a sin, then a generous or brave action”. The same could be said for our little neighborhood as well.
Talk to y’all on Friday!