Autumn
Today is the Autumn Equinox, the day at this end of the year in the UK when day and night are the same length. Autumn can stand for many things, in our lives and our writing. This is the season of harvest where we gather and benefit from what we have 'sown' over the spring and summer. It can symbolise a move from youth (the summer) to adulthood (the autumn), especially as our children charge into a new school year. It can also bring over us a feeling of melancholy. This is a season of both beauty and sadness. The golden colours and ripe fruit present us with their glorious hues and yet it is also time to pack away the toys of summer, time to look back and ahead. I was married in autumn, a wonderful day in October that united friends and family for a few playful hours. It was one of the happiest days in my life, but the saddest too. My father had died a couple of years before that and my mother was too ill with dementia to attend. We played a favourite song of my father...