When I think of Seasons, what comes to mind for me now is that we all have seasons of our lives, just as sure as trees, flowers and vegetables have their own seasons. We have the family and school years, the blush of first love and marriage, then pets (sometimes) and often, children of our own.

When the school years begin, with the newness of kindergarten, teachers start telling us what to do, and we as parents adhere to their instructions to the letter, or face the wrath of our children. Those all-important notes from teachers begin to have an impact on us all.

As families, we have the elementary, middle school & high school years & college, and sometimes divorce rears its ugly head, but not always. For many of us there are the ‘caring for parent’ bridge years, as it was for us (for 19 years to be exact), and finally – sooner or later – we all hit the retirement years.

At our house it was two children, a boy and a girl, a long-haired dachshund, a poodle and a Husky, a gerbil named Matillda, one rabbit, one cat and numerous goldfish, as close as I can remember. There were other gerbils, but we won’t go into those.

Finally we enter the empty nest stage. Some move into retirement the way we did, but moving out of family homes to smaller places or not, we start our retired lives. We decided to move to Georgia, a definite signal that we are now retired. For hubby it’s kayaking and workshop projects – there is always something to fix. With me it’s knitting (mostly prayer shawls and scarves), reading and writing, and dealing with too much produce from the large garden in the back yard.

This garden is for the two of us, but mostly hubby who plans and plants. Sometimes he even weeds. I am the one who has the job of cleaning and cooking most of it, but we eat well during the summer months, with only a few things frozen for winter soups and stews.

Through the years, whether I lived at KI Sawyer AFB, Michigan, Ft. Collins, Colorado, Pensacola, Denver, Dayton, Omaha or Spokane, I’ve been amazed at the way Four O’clock flowers open and close, the beauty of roses, how often Daisies bloom, the awe of deep purple iris around a patio and the way a Cecile Brunner rose can take over a trellis, with hidden places at the top for birds to nest.

Even now I can look out my office window and see the mother mockingbird sitting patiently in her nest. The good news now is that I am retired and can watch this beautiful bird in her nest, in plain sight from my office chair, and can hear her chirp throughout the day. She’s a talkative one, usually alerting me when she’s in her nest. Earlier we had a brown thrasher nesting in the top of our tea olive bush on the deck, and just as much as a miracle.

Before we moved here from Spokane, we had three different robin families at the top of our rose trellis there. I am excited that this mockingbird has chosen us here, too. There must be something really special to these birds about a rose trellis.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I think it pays to ‘rewrite’ your life story at some point, with only the good things emphasized.  Try it. You might just be surprised. I did and I know now that I look at a lot of people and events differently, even from many years ago. For myself, I find this leaves me in a much happier place.