[title subtitle=”WORDS Dorothy Johnson”][/title]
Dorothy Johnson, a ninety-two-year-old reader from Fort Smith, submitted an account of her life growing up in the country which we published in July. We enjoyed it very much, so imagine our delight when we received another submission from Dorothy, now age ninety-three! She hopes this story will be an encouragement to others. We are honored to share it with you, just as we received it from Dorothy.
It will soon be fall in Arkansas. It came a little earlier in Kentucky where I spent most of my young days, but the colors and the temperatures are just about the same. It seems to me that the summer is for the young folks who can stay in the water for hours and go sailing in the boats. We older folk like the cooler temperatures with a little warmth from the sun much better.
My mothers favorite season was fall, and mine is too. When the leaves turned, my husband and I always took a road trip through the hills and mountains of Kentucky. There was beauty on every side of the highway. The trees were dressed in red and gold with perhaps a small green leaf mixed in. Every bush and hedge rose along the road were beautiful. You may say you don’t feel that fall is ever coming as warm as the temperatures are now, and as high as the utility bills are, however, if you will open your door or windows at night as I sometimes do, you will hear what sounds like hundreds of insects singing a song that fall is coming! If you listen very closely, you may hear a rustling in the trees…it is the mother tree warning the leaves that a change is coming. All summer long, the leaves have stayed on the sturdy branches of the trees. Soon now, they will go out on their own. Soon the days and especially the nights will become cooler. In your minds you may think you don’t want anymore warm weather, but then comes Indian Summer. They say it is called this because the work was all done for the year and the Braves were laying in the sun resting. The farmers, however, are busy bringing in all the vegetables and plants before the cold weather comes. Then, one day or night you will hear a wind blowing strong. You may be cozy in your beds. You can hear the wind more in the farmhouses than you can in the town houses here in the city. Either way, you know that the colorful leaves are calling. It’s just like the children used to sing in school. “Come little leaves said the wind one day, come over the hills with me and play. Put on your coats of red and gold, for summer is gone and the days grow cold.”
In the mornings you will see piles of leaves on the ground. In time they will be gathered and placed out for the garbage. A few will be burned making a savory smell all around. In the country, they are left on the ground to be covered by snow later.
The tree is bare now, but she is not sad. She is healthy and safe. She knows a secret, one that I did not know though I was an adult, until a speaker at church brought a devotion telling of the fact that behind every leaf that falls there is a tiny white bud. Though it is tiny, it is strong. It has pushed the leaf out. In the spring, that bud will push out another leaf. A leaf that will grow and one day will have color and beauty. How like the cycle of life that is…. And as the tree stands bear through the winter months, sometimes you can hear her singing. Though the winds try to shake her, she stands proud and strong. She is not shaken because she knows the secret. She knows the cycle of the seasons. Sometimes the snow comes and covers her branches, and she is beautiful again for a season. She remains proud and strong for she knows that spring is coming, and leaves will fill her branches once again, rustling and singing her song. I will not be able to see the colors of the leaves this year for my eyesight has grown very dim. I will not be sad because I know like the tree and the branches know, that I will see again. The cycle of life. May all who read this receive new courage and strength. If the winds blow strong against you, you will proudly stand knowing that spring will come to your life again.
