My buddy Jon sent me a picture today from the mountains. Jon is a great pal who I have come to know over the past 23 years. We are not, on the surface, a likely connection. Jon is a blue collar Viet Nam vet who built nuclear warheads for the DOD. I’m the first “preacher he ever liked”. I am not sure if that is because he liked my theology or I am never offended by his crude, funny, honest, takes on life. While he was in Nam flying in a helicopter, I was partying and protesting.
Jon loves the outdoors. This picture reveals the coming of fall in the Rockies. Hands down I am an Autumn guy. I love everything about it. I am not a “buy flowers” kind of guy. However, I could not pass up three colors of mums at Whole Foods yesterday. To me Fall begins my year. I am not sure if that goes back to my early school days. There was nothing like a new Big Chief tablet, crayons, and the smell of school to reboot my world.
This Autumn begins September 22nd. I admit it’s not the same with Covid lurking everywhere, and the haze of fire smoke which has covered the mountains for four weeks. I will take a drive soon through the mountains to soak in the Fall colors. My Bronco tickets are resting this year, the Rockies had their mid-summer collapse two months late, and we are playing playoff basketball. My internal clock is very confused. Some things seem in sync and other markers look like that moose that wandered into Greeley last year.
When I drive to Greeley from Arvada three days a week, I love taking highway 66 and 85 just to drive by the farms. Harvest is still going on and pumpkin patches are popping up. Jon’s picture was just what I needed. I plan on finding piles of leaves and crunching them with my feet. I am ready for some apple cider and popcorn. I can’t wait to spot my first ‘lipstick bush’ (a made up name) for these blazing red bushes that show off every autumn.
“For everything there is a season”… and I plan on enjoying this one—including carving up a couple of pumpkins.
Onward and Upward,
Mark
Lyfting Me Up 