Autumn Comes

Art and I were talking in bed this morning about how far we've come in our ability to feel happiness. When we first met we were both emotional basket cases, terrified of doom and bearing the scars of all the death, sickness, abuse and maladaptive behaviors we had experienced all around us in our youths. Stalwart in our determination to breed and create a better life, it still amazes me that we have perservered so long and that life has indeed improved. And yet, both of us are always, in the back of our minds, not even too far back, expecting utter disaster at any moment. A vestigial warrior exists in both of us, his more stoic than mine, but both willing to trudge onward through the obstacles.

It's now autumn proper. The leaves are thoroughly dried out, the branches reaching bravely in their thrist. This time of year reminds me of a movie I once saw about tribal tensions in Yugoslavia. It's called "Before the Rain".