I am now in my fourth season as a Virginian. We arrived ten months ago a week shy of winter. So, technically I have experienced all four seasons here but now we are in the thick of the last season to be fully known to us. It is autumn. The leaves are in the midst of changing, the air is cool in the morning (I have dusted off a jacket from its six month break), it is dark when I leave for work in the morning and, halfway through the day, the sun peaks through to remind me of its enduring presence. I can tell you from my limited experience, this will be my very favorite time of year.
Yesterday we spent the day with our very first California visitors. What a treat it was! We got to show them around our new home (micro and macro) and pretend we were the experts of this area. We chose to go to Mount Vernon, a favorite place of mine from schlepping eighth graders around the DC area four autumns in a row. It did not disappoint. The air was crisp but the sun shone enough to simply wear a sweater; the Potomoc glimmering in the background with a powerful radiance only water can bring. Like Monticello, this tour has been updated with the honoring of the enslaved people who kept Washington and his white family and friends alive in splendor. Thomas and Mark rode bikes from our home along the Potomoc to this beautiful site while Carol and I shopped along the brick sidewalks of Old Town Alexandria. It was probably the first time I have felt happy in this crazy transition we have made. I needed to share my new experience with California friends to really settle into what is true ~ life is so transient and we are leaning in.
Mount Vernon
It has also helped that Thomas' depression has lifted and that, although I am exhausted most days, I get to interact with other adults in my new job. I get to put on real clothes in the morning and commute down the George Washington Parkway (along the Potomoc!), settle at my desk and then say good morning to people I am coming to know. I get to feel part of a community again. I get to tell my story to people who are interested in getting to know me. I get to don my mask with giraffes or rhinos, hedge hogs or monkeys, and help six to eleven year olds grapple with the complexity of their feelings amid this Covid and conflict ridden world they are inheriting. I am starting to feel like I am softly landing right where I need to be.
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Things have gotten "safe" enough that Thomas starts traveling for his job tomorrow. He will spend next week in Boston and then another trip to Boston and one to Germany in the next couple of months. This will be the first time I am alone since we began sheltering in place in March 2020. I am curious as to how that will feel in this new house, in this new life. As the world opens up again (maybe, let's see), I imagine there will be more opportunities to ground ourselves in our new community. We have a gubernatorial election that the whole nation is watching ~ out of the frying pan, into the fire we are. So we registered to vote here and hope our two blue ballots make a difference.
Hilary told us that people put pumpkins and mums on their porches in New England and the Mid-Atlantic to celebrate the changing season. The day after she told me I noticed all the porches decorated in such a manner. Here we go, the transition is complete; we are more and more like the others in our new home.
Autumn at 409 E. Bellefonte Ave. - Home