Coming

I have not yet felt it coming. Perhaps the 103 degree weather has kept it at bay, but soon perhaps, soon, I will feel the tinge of Fall that preceeds my birthday and heralds in the feelings of school and golden brown leaves. It is as welcoming to me as the candles on my birthday cake, as soft as a kiss, the fall breeze in the air. It tells me there is a county fair in my hometown, that swimming pools become cool, and in the last couple of years, it tells me that a sleeve may be needed for nights on the patio.

September 2 is the birthday of two separate childhood friends. While I always remember their birthday, I have begun to forget to get the cards in time for a timely delivery. Mary Lee is one of the non family people I have known the longest. We met at a summer camp, third grade. She lived in a town about an hour from mine, but her grandparents lived in the neighborhood of the camp. We became fast friends. What we have now is more of a strong memory of a friendship, but I'm not willing yet to let the memories go. The card goes in the mail, and in a few weeks I will receive one from her.

Her son should be a teenager by now, her daughter into elementary school, I suppose. Last I knew, she had worked through some marital problems and had reaffirmed her love for her husband.

Her grandmother is, I hope, still alive. The last I saw Mary Lee, her mother had died and I traveled to the funeral. It seemed appropriate, but odd. Like watching a television show and knowing that you know them well, but they're not part of your life. Once, her brothers and sister held a fascination for me. Wild and reckless they all were. I envisioned they lived lives of mayhem and mischief, and I may not have been wrong. But that was long ago. Another time, another place, another life. Today, somewhere, is a wife and a mother, and I hope she had a happy birthday yesterday.