Fall 2019.

We don’t ever get too much of the in-between seasons in the Rockies, but when fall does arrive, we have a couple of weeks to savour the golden yellow larch trees before their needles drop and signify the beginning of winter. Their needles turn with the first frost, going from green to yellow before becoming bare. We went on a leisurely and thankfully warm walk with our dear friends’ dog, Hobbit to mark the occasion and to enjoy the splendour.

A couple of days after the photos below were taken, my family lost my uncle to his 10-year battle with cancer. My mother lost another sibling to cancer in less than 12 months. My uncle was unwell for a long time, but kept regaining health and bouncing back to the disbelief of medical professionals. When he passed, it was somewhat sudden, for he seemed stable in the weeks prior, until the last few days before he died.

Both my aunt and uncle left this world in the fall, and now this season will forever remind me of them. Fall was indeed my aunt’s favourite season, and my uncle spent many hours in his final months painting autumn scenery and maple leaves. Now I imagine them sitting together, siblings reunited; my uncle, a prolific & talented artist, painting the season with colours that don’t exist on Earth, my aunt, taking it in beside him, taking in a view like no other, playing the piano with notes that we will only hear when we, too, are reunited with them.

With every turning
of the
leaves
I will turn my face
up
up, up, up
to the sunflower bright
ceiling
and think of you.