{"id":9,"date":"2015-03-23T03:51:24","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T03:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kathrynberlabooks.wordpress.com\/?p=9"},"modified":"2015-03-23T03:51:24","modified_gmt":"2015-03-23T03:51:24","slug":"a-second-chance-originally-published-9212011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kathrynberlabooks.com\/index.php\/2015\/03\/23\/a-second-chance-originally-published-9212011\/","title":{"rendered":"A Second Chance (originally published September 21, 2011)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bob<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Photo by Bob Burrows<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIndian summer is here and it feels like a second chance. A blanket of heat has settled over the land and lowered the oxygen level for those existing under its canopy. I move more slowly to conserve energy for it isn\u2019t the same summer heat that stirs the passion of youth.<\/p>\n

Wikipedia tells me that every culture has a name for it. In Hungary it\u2019s referred to as \u201cold ladies\u2019 summer\u201d in honor of the white spiders which make their appearance in the early fall and are linked through folklore to witches and crones. My favorite is the Chinese \u201ctiger in autumn\u201d for this is no gentle season although it disguises itself as such.
\nThis is a time of transition and it\u2019s during transition when we are most alive.<\/p>\n

Deer roam the hills desperate for anything green, taking risks that they wouldn\u2019t have taken only weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Crickets chirp louder as though they must try harder in order to be heard through the thickness of the air.<\/p>\n

The nights are quiet and still. Skies are clear and speckled with glittering stars. Coyotes yip harmoniously on distant hills.
\nAir conditioners drone on through the night.<\/p>\n

My husband\u2019s beloved garden still churns out tomatoes, though more and more frequently they mutate into odd twisted shapes. He has jealously guarded this plot of land throughout the summer in a manner worthy of Mr. McGregor, but now he allows a mother cottontail to lead her baby into its tangled overgrowth.\u00a0 Moles are moving in, he says in a resigned voice. \u00a0Mother Nature arrives to reclaim what\u2019s hers.<\/p>\n

I feel restless and slightly off balance and yet the heaviness of the sun turns my restlessness inward to self reflection. I want to hang onto what\u2019s behind me but my grip is weakening and I\u2019m being propelled forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnjoy it,\u201d a voice is telling me. \u201cSavor every moment but prepare for what\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n

It occurs to me that I\u2019m in the Indian summer of my life. And for now that feels like the perfect place to be.<\/p>\n

***\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Photo by Bob Burrows   Indian summer is here and it feels like a second chance. A blanket of heat has settled over the land and lowered the oxygen level for those existing under its canopy. I move more slowly to conserve energy for it isn\u2019t the same summer heat that stirs the passion…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynberlabooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynberlabooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynberlabooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynberlabooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynberlabooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynberlabooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynberlabooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynberlabooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynberlabooks.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}