The concept of seasons has been on my mind lately, perhaps it is the start of summer that has me thinking.  However, I have been reflecting not so much on the annual seasons, but the seasons of life.  Some are long and some are short, and I am much more aware of these seasons of life than ever before.  I think of a number of seasons in my personal life:

• The baseball season, the wonderful time of spring and summer with long days and warm nights on the field.
• My personal season of baseball—the years I played from childhood through college
• The season of falling in love and courtship
• The various school seasons, from high school to graduate school
• The season of weddings—the age when I got married and so did most of my friends
• The season of baby showers and new birth for friends and family
• The seasons of illnesses for family and pets
• The seasons of puppyhood
• The seasons of personal illness, injury and recuperation

In the midst of these seasons, the experiences and associated feelings seem permanent:  injuries will never heal, wedding invitations will come every year, dogs will play forever.  But then these seasons end, and strangely, as time passes, the very opposite occurs:  the seasons which occupied so much of our lives now feel very distant. 

Time flows by.  Like water in your hands, we can never hold onto it.  I believe photography is a coping mechanism that helps us deal with the stress of passing time:  we can capture images—freeze moments in time—that live permanently on the screen or paper.  Grandma is still in the garden, babies are still babies, and summer is still summer. 

I loved living in the Caribbean, the weather was essentially the same every day and the hours of sunlight changed very little from winter to summer.  I remember returning home several times from dog walks, wiping sweat from my face, and looking up and seeing football on TV.  I would be very confused, because it was still “summer” outside.  The flow of time was far less perceptible there and I felt at peace.  For example, I didn’t’ feel the pressure in August to pack in as much summer activities as I could as the days began to shorten.  When living in the Caribbean, if I didn’t do something “fun” this weekend, it didn’t matter, because there were 51 other weekends with virtually the same conditions.  Unfortunately, that season of my life has passed, but I have to admit, I wouldn’t mind revisiting it again someday—it was such a calm, happy time. 

Today, I find myself in a season that is hard to define.  Perhaps it is best described as a season of wisdom—a time to both pursue greater knowledge—through reading, travel, conversation, experience—and a time to share what I have learned with the next generation.  I am enjoying this season, although I would prefer to be somewhere like the Caribbean where I do not feel the strong current of time passing by.  And I wonder what season is next and what it will hold for me.