Living My Own "September Song"

By Carol Woolum Roberts

While listening to Willie Nelson’s version of “September Song”, thoughts started swirling around my head like the leaves falling off the trees this month.  Is this where I am at?  Am I in the “September” time of life.

It sure seems that way.  I catch myself making decisions based on my own mortality.

Thoughts like, “I have all these places I want to travel to, but do I have time to see them all?”

I also tell myself we can comfortably live and take care of our home and yard for at least another ten years.

I tell myself I have at least thirty more years here on earth.  Forty if I am lucky.

Maybe it is the realization I am in the last year of my fifties, and sixty is looming ever closer.  A few weeks ago, I celebrated one friend’s sixtieth birthday, even though the official day is not until November.

There will be many celebrations in the next year as friends born in 1962 and 1963 turn the big “6-0”.

I will be one of the last, being a July birthday.  My whole life I was always the youngest.  I was the baby of the family, with siblings eight and nine years older than myself.  I was the youngest of most of my school friends.

In about a week, 13 friends from my sorority pledge class gather here in Kellogg for a reunion.  A kick-off, of sorts, to reaching the 60 milestone in the year ahead.

Yet, I am living the best life right now.  Paul and I get to be at home together, do our own creative things, and hopefully encourage others to do the same.

My daughters, siblings and other family all live close.

This has been a beautiful September.  This September has been a perfect example of where I am at in life.  The summer days are ending. I ease into the season of autumn.  The days are getting shorter, as the Willie Nelson song says…

Oh the days dwindle down
To a precious few . . .
September, November . . .
And these few precious days
I'll spend with you.
These precious days
I'll spend with you.

And that is my life.  Yes, the days are dwindling down to a precious few.

But these precious days I get to spend with Paul, doing what we love.

We have so much we want to do, but…

“One hasn’t got time for the waiting game”.

This year, September teaches me to live each day to the fullest.  Take risks.  Try new things.  Make every day count.  Slow down, listen and be aware of what is happening around me. 

If you would like to listen to Wille's version of this song, click here. 

"September Song"

Oh, it's a long, long while
From May to December
But the days grow short,
When you reach September.
When the autumn weather
Turn leaves to flame
One hasn't got time
For the waiting game.

Oh the days dwindle down
To a precious few . . .
September, November . . .
And these few precious days
I'll spend with you.
These precious days
I'll spend with you.

Oh the days dwindle down
To a precious few . . .
September, November . . .
And these few precious days
I'll spend with you.
These precious days
I'll spend with you.
These precious days
I'll spend with you.

 ___________________________________________________________

What do you enjoy about the season of life you are in right now?

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