{"id":482,"date":"2012-07-10T21:04:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-10T20:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gollygoshcafe.com\/?p=482"},"modified":"2012-10-20T13:03:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-20T12:03:00","slug":"autumn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gollygoshcafe.com\/?p=482","title":{"rendered":"autumn"},"content":{"rendered":"

How beautifully leaves grow old.\u00a0 How full of light and color are their last days.\u00a0 ~John Burroughs<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The softness of newly fallen red and gold and brown leaves, slippery under wellington boots that playfully rustled and kicked and swept on the way to school.\u00a0\u00a0 The feel of a new navy blue trenchcoat still to be softened and moulded, a buckle fastened tightly, the\u00a0scratchy borrowed scarf and\u00a0the hood tied under her chin\u00a0to protect\u00a0against the cold wind and rain, chapping at her face.\u00a0 A brown leather satchel on her shoulders\u00a0bobbing up\u00a0and down\u00a0and gloves dangling but still attached.\u00a0 Her hand holding on tightly to the young man at her side.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to be late and I\u2019ll get into trouble!<\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll be fine.\u00a0 I\u2019ll explain.<\/em><\/p>\n

It would be a typical exchange.\u00a0 One who worried and one who tried not to.\u00a0 Nothing would change as they grew older.<\/p>\n

An unexpected memory from a long time ago interrupted Kate\u2019s thoughts; a special day and the only time she could ever remember her big brother taking her to school.\u00a0 She knew then he\u2019d always be there for her and he was, for as long as he could be.<\/p>\n

Since she was little, autumn had been Kate\u2019s favourite time of the year.\u00a0 There was no other season that reminded her of her mum so vividly than autumn with its vibrant colours.\u00a0 Beautiful autumn, the transition from summer to winter, transforming the grey concrete roads and pavements into a carpet of blended colour, simply irresistible.\u00a0 How her mum had watched everyday as the leaves fell, knowing that winter was on its way, and that this autumn would be her last.<\/p>\n

Kate had never known her brother\u2019s favourite season.\u00a0 But she was certain if he\u2019d had one, it would surely have been summer.\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t help but smile at the thought and knew, instinctively, that he’d agree.<\/p>\n

She was doing lots of remembering lately and gave herself a talking to.\u00a0 This self-indulgence had to stop!<\/em>\u00a0 Perhaps it was the celebration of her beautiful niece\u2019s birthday or the shiny happy face of her great-nephew Noah or the fact that their lives had been turned upside down ten years ago or was it the earlier conversation she\u2019d had with her best and oldest friend in the world that was the trigger.<\/p>\n

Hidden emotions of a last autumn.<\/p>\n

Unusually Kate had given herself permission to be alone today and\u00a0now understood what it was about solitude that\u00a0the woman in the corner seemed to like so much; quietness and a time to think and look around you. She observed the comings and goings, overheard snippets of conversations but always seemed\u00a0to miss the punchline\u00a0just before the\u00a0laughter erupted.\u00a0 She witnessed seriousness and hope etched in the faces of those around her and she realised, again, that everyone has a story to tell.<\/p>\n

A boy in red and white with blond hair caught her eye in the distance,\u00a0further down the beach.\u00a0 He was flying a kite.\u00a0 Her heart lifted and kicked.\u00a0\u00a0But\u00a0Noah and\u00a0Auntie Jan weren’t alone.\u00a0 The wind was too strong for them to control the kite and she watched curiously as the\u00a0stranger\u00a0stepped in to help.\u00a0\u00a0Running and laughing together; chasing.<\/p>\n

Well, that’s\u00a0tonight\u2019s conversation taken care of.<\/p>\n

Her brother popped into her head again.\u00a0 Mischief maker.\u00a0 She smiled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How beautifully leaves grow old.\u00a0 How full of light and color are their last days.\u00a0 ~John Burroughs The softness of newly fallen red and gold and brown leaves, slippery under wellington boots that playfully rustled and kicked and swept on the way to school.\u00a0\u00a0 The feel of a new navy blue trenchcoat still to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[31,6],"tags":[90,91,96,95,159,30,89,93,70,94,92],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s2zQgS-autumn","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gollygoshcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gollygoshcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gollygoshcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gollygoshcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gollygoshcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=482"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/gollygoshcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1774,"href":"http:\/\/gollygoshcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions\/1774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gollygoshcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gollygoshcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gollygoshcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}