The Briar Philosopher - Welcome Autumn and For the Love of Children

Today marks the Autumn Equinox, the official beginning of Fall. I’m normally a Spring and Summer gal, but this summer’s heat left me longing for a cooler season, and I’m glad to see it arrive at last. They’re even calling for rain this week, and I will also welcome that. It has been so dry for the last many weeks. I’ve had to water the “littles,” the young trees I planted this spring, a couple of times since the weather dried up. A lot of the trees are losing leaves early due to drought conditions, and that’s worrisome. I hope they will all get a good drink before bedtime and jump right back up and start growing again come spring. 

The Boy and I have both been “under the weather,” as they say, for a couple of weeks now. Now, that was a pretty common phrase to hear when we were growing up, but what the heck does it actually mean? Well, I had to look it up because of my natural-born, overwhelming curiosity. It turns out that the phrase originated in the 1800s and was a phrase used by sailors. When they were made ill or sick due to bad weather and the rocking of the boat, they were sent to stay under the bow of the boat or, literally, under the weather. The phrase became popularized to mean any sort of illness or sickness and is still in use today, though not as often as it once was. 

Now, neither the Boy nor I are 1800s sailors, but this sickness has certainly made us wish we could hide under something until it blew over. But we couldn’t. The things that have to be done still have to be done, whether or not we’re feeling up to it. And get done they did, slowly, but that doesn’t matter. The paper went out last week and will do so again this week. 

In addition to the viral fun we’ve been having, last Thursday I cut a huge gash in the knuckle of my right index finger. It’s healing, but it has been a whole thing figuring out how to get the things done without using it. I’m pretty good at adapting, but being very right-handed, it has been a bit of a struggle. A minor one to be sure, but still a struggle. 

I stopped writing this yesterday just before noon because the Boy and I had a lunch date with our grandson Ben for Grandparents’ Day at McKee Elementary. This column was going to be mostly about the need for people to learn to adapt to all kinds of things. That changed when I saw the utter delight and joy on Ben’s face when he saw us. He literally jumped up and down and hugged us both so tight. He didn’t know we were going to be there. He wasn’t sure if we had been told about Grandparents’ Day. Y’all, there is nothing in the world like seeing that kind of joy and love on a child’s face for no other reason than your presence in their life.  To see his heart brimming over made our hearts brim over too. 

All of that made me think about priorities; what we value and what we ignore. I think that too often we, as a culture, put too much emphasis on money and status and such, and too little on the things that really count - things like a little boy who can be moved to such joy just because he loves you. The Boy and I have both, for the most part, lived pretty simple lives. Neither of us cares much for what the world would tell us to value. Both of us value love and peace of mind above all other things because those are treasures no amount of money can buy and no societal status can bring. Just seeing the look on his face made all other things we might have been holding too tightly melt away, and there was suddenly nothing more important in the entire world than letting him know that we were just as happy to see him. 

It is said that if you want to change the future, change the life of a child for the better. I believe that to be absolutely true. And to know that the life of even one child has been changed in a positive way by your existence, now that’s what I would call a worthy purpose for anyone’s life. 

The Boy and I will be quite content when the reaper comes to harvest us,  just knowing our lives have been graced with such love and that we have given such love in return. 

If there isn’t a child in your life directly, go find one and befriend them. There are many ways of doing that. I believe it to be true that if a child has just one person in their corner, regardless of genetic connection, that child will be so much better off in the future. 

If you do happen to have a child in your life directly, be sure not to take the gift of them for granted. Don’t let distraction keep you from seeing them, hearing them, appreciating the wonder that they are. Make it a point to stop what you are doing at least once a day and truly see them and let them know how amazing they are and how much they are loved. The rewards you both will reap will far outshine the brightest gold.