It was actually on a beautiful sunny August day, on a jaunt with my granddaughter before her departure abroad for her sophomore fall semester, that I began October thoughts. It had been a rather dry August (indeed a very dry summer!) so the picturesque little village in Massachusetts where we found ourselves that day already had dried falling leaves scurrying everywhere at our feet. We came upon an unusual tiny “park” nestled in a Main St. crosswalk, and this sign in the brickwork at our feet where we rested on a park bench set me going:

I hung on those poignant words and wondered who was the man or woman who took the time to have this stone inscribed with this message, in a place at a busy crossroads where who knows who will take the time to read it…read it and ponder its worth? So on any given day in that tiny village, as you sit on the bench and read this…whether you are alone or in the company of someone, as I was that day, and you take in the history and quaint quietness around you…do you feel yourself filled with “timeless knowledge?” And as the seasons turn and countless others take your place there…does all that knowledge of the human lives lived in this place create “endless Harmony?” I asked the question aloud to my granddaughter, not wanting an answer…just a few moments to contemplate the question together.

Some weeks later, In this month of October, where there are more dry leaves about and the days are shorter with less light to guide us, I’m asking the same question: can it be that only those who STOP, who don’t hurry by without noticing at all, who understand that knowledge of who we are and what we are to do with our time here on this earth is timeless! All the men and women who have lived, and will live after us…IF they have let themselves be still and STOP…have pondered why we all are here….and they knew, as we did that day, in that special timeless moment … that Someone put us here…that Someone holds us fast…and that knowledge will have comforted them!! The result is endless harmony for the human race. Harmony’s definition , “the quality of forming a pleasing and consistent whole,” is exactly what I felt and heard that morning: united with all those who know where they come from and where they are going…and it was a pleasing and comforting feeling indeed!

It’s in October that we come face to face with breathtaking autumn beauty, but there is also a stirring around us of things to come: the dying of bountiful summer…the seeming dying of all around us…the dying of loved ones lost…our own dying??? It is no coincidence that this lovely month ends with All Hallows’ Eve, followed by All Saints’ day, followed by All Souls’ day. Our ancestors have known for ages the thoughts that this turning season prompts in us, and so created “feasts” to assure that we Do think these thoughts…”In solitude…in common…timeless knowledge…endless harmony”

As I re-read this entry before publishing it, it certainly seems to lean toward dark and somber thoughts… but let’s look again. It was a sunny August day remember, one with fond memories of a walk with my granddaughter, that planted the seeds of this blog. May we all be grateful for the people who care enough to set a stone in place in a village park, not knowing if any will be inspired by it. May we be grateful for time alone and time in common. May we be grateful for the harmony we experience in our souls when we KNOW why we are here, and what we are meant to give. And may this gratitude spill over into the next month’s musings: the thanksgiving month of November!

Happy Pondering!