Today is the last day of Summer, as Autumn officially clocks-in tonight at 11:10 pm, EDT. I like that we have a last full day of Summer to enjoy, and with good weather in New York, it’s especially nice. I might take a walk in the park and enjoy early Fall foliage. Although I usually mourn when Summer transitions into Fall, this year with the blistering heat, I am welcoming the lowered humidity and ability to walk around the city without having to risk heat stroke. And then there is boot season, which I have decided will officially start tomorrow for me!

I have also realized that there are things just can’t grow to fullness and completion in the heat of the Summer, as our Full Moon so close to the Equinox coming up tomorrow morning at 5:18 EDT will show us! As I mentioned in my previous post about the Equinox, this Fall is going to involve culminations of all kinds. This may involve, great changes, and challenges, but ultimately it should enable growth that would not have happened earlier.

The flowers above are Autumn Crocuses from the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, and I love seeing them in bloom! It reminds me how we have expectations about the way things should be, but nature provides not only the crocuses in late Winter that signal the first sign of Spring, but also crocuses in the Fall that are heralding a time of inner renewal and blossoming in the Fall and Winter.

My high school class leader, Ashwin, at our graduation so many years ago, sent us off into the world with a statement that I’ve often thought about. He said, “And you will be like butterflies in the Fall.” At the time, it was amusing, like a zen koan given to us to decipher, or I’m sure more than one thought he’d inhaled too much of the stoner air in Portland. Did he mean that we were all going to be late bloomers? Did he mean that we all already were late bloomers? Did it just sound good, like something from “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”?

But now as I realize as time goes by, that yes, it will be good if I can be a butterfly in the Fall. There’s no need to rush to achieve everything I want to by my twenties and thirties. Maybe that’s not even possible or the way it’s supposed to be.

And you will be like butterflies in the fall.