So I’m starting to see and feel a bit of a theme for 2012 and so that’s what this post is about. So far this year (and its only March) I have done quite a few things not quite within my comfort zone. I got my Diploma in front of at least 1000 strangers, I’ve got a new job, that I start on Monday and there’s lots of little things too. Yesterday I took the plunge again – I went and got my hair done. It’s not like dying my hair is a brand new experience, I’ve done it a lot before. But the last time was well over a year ago. For quite a while it was nice not dying my hair, letting it return to its natural colour and generally feeling more healthy but then it started to become ‘comfortable’ and I was afraid to take the risk. Deep down I’ve always wanted red hair. And now I have it. I certainly don’t belong in this era, not all of me, I think in my past life I lived in the 50’s or 60’s. Because all I’ve ever wanted is long, long curly red locks – how odd am I?! But I think – getting all philosophical now – that you can really progress as a person and become a much happier person if you let yourself be. Sometimes we become so focussed on what random people (people we don’t even like) think about us that we hold so much back from the world. The people we really like and who really care don’t give a bag of rats.
And so here, with my new red hair, is to a fresh start.
And a small tribute to Autumn.
When I think of autumn, I think of a girl with her hair swaying in the wind. She is holding an umbrella that tips back in the breeze but there’s only a slight mist of rain, a drop hangs on her nose. Her feet are dressed in brand new boots and with them she kicks the leaves that have adorned the concrete path. She wears a jacket over her summer dress, just a hint of what is being left behind – long days lying in the grass – and a hint of what’s to come – coats and rainstorms and fire-side mugs of tea. She walks alone but a smile is her companion as other passers by hunker down and hurry on. She knows that just around the corner is a dark and chilly figure, winter waiting, but she does not hesitate to stop and enjoy the myriad of colours: the trees waving, because for autumn may be seen as a stepping stone from light to dark, it is just as long as summer that’s been and winter still to come. And she knows, that stopping to inspect the ant marching on the auburn leaf dancing on the path, she will keep this moment here and winter will hold back just a minute longer.
