Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
My mother loved New England in the fall. She was born and raised in the area; New York and Vermont to be exact. After my mother married, she moved to southern CA. This is where I was born and this is where she raised her children. It was during Christmas time that she tried to duplicate the winters that she loved so much growing up back east. She bought a flocked-white tree for many years when I was young and strung up delicate blue lights. She adorned it with petite decorative birds and ornaments that looked like icicles. I am sure that my description of our Christmas trees is not giving it justice, but it was truly lovely . . . bright, serene, intimate . . . just like mother cherished. My mother passed away during the summer. She was 82 years old and as you would expect I miss her terribly.
I was fortunate enough to visit NY with my mother back in August, 1983. We (my mother, brother, and sister) flew back east to attend my cousin's wedding and what a fabulous wedding it was. I have so many fond memories of that trip. My uncle treated all of us to a Broadway production of A Chorus Line. Kathryn Hepburn was sitting only two rows back from us that night and I remember my mother (who was a big fan) was particularly awestruck by this fact. The whole family also rode the elevator all the way up to the top of The Twin Towers. This was very cool; of course at the time I didn’t know how significant our visit to this particular this tourist attraction would be later in life. Heights made my mother nervous, but she thoroughly enjoyed this rise to the top of NYC.
This is my first trip back to NY since 1983. This time however, I am going in the fall. New England in fall was another time of year that my mother remembered very fondly from her youth.
At last, we arrived in Westchester County, NY, only about 45 miles from where my mother and uncles grew up in. Lush trees with autumn leaves are plentiful in Westchester County in the fall. One day, I seized some alone time during sunset and I sat on the dock of a lake only 50 yards from our doorstep. The stillness of the lake and the colors on the trees are an ordinary occurrence at this time of the year, though I feel anything but ordinary. I feel blessed. The colors on the landscape are rich and varied and spiritual. How fortunate we all are. Every year, the leaves show off glorious shades of yellows, reds, oranges, and purples knowing that eventually, they will fall off the branches and glide to the earth.
My mother’s remembrance of New England in the fall is timeless.
- comments