We are well into the Fall season and soon Winter will be upon us. We’re seeing color in the trees and feel a bit of crispness in the air. I’m relieved to see these signs. I look forward to the transitions of each season as it marks a point in time – an end and a beginning.
I’m ready for the change because I know that with change comes new opportunities, new things to learn, new perspectives. Each season of the year has its own kind of beauty, its own reasons to be anticipated and celebrated.
The change in season, much like changes in life, provides a means for measuring progress, and how we can tell that we are growing and improving. We all find meaning and a sense of comfort in things familiar to us. And while it is tempting to hold onto those things familiar, I am grateful that time marches on anyway. As good as things are now, they will get better, but only if we are willing to change. Living is not being static. It is a pursuit of something that is just beyond the horizon, something that we occasionally get glimpses of as we move toward it.
The Buddhist faith believes it is only by recognizing how precious and how short life is that we are most likely to make it meaningful and to live it fully. The way in which we live our lives influence our future. By understanding the purpose of death we also understand the purpose of life.
Within the past few months, we’ve lost 3 individuals who have been a vital part of Moss-Bradley: Gladys Elwood, Marge Klise and most recently Dr. Richard Lee. Each have contributed so much to our organization over the years, providing us an insight and direction into being a better neighborhood and better neighbors. In mentioning these 3 individuals, I by no means am slighting those individuals who have passed before them as they too have been an important part of who we are as a
collective society.
I recall a conversation with Dr. Lee and his wife Jane discussing why we all own older homes. Dr. Lee made a very simple but apt comment, “We are simply caretakers for the next generation of home owners.”
Marge Klise was always one to look back, preserving our history, but always moving us forward. Her newsletter submissions, Thru the Windshield, always presented us a with a perspective of being more than we were, making the most of our lives and the impact this had on us as neighbors and as a neighborhood. And there are and will be others with the same impact and mindset as Dr. Lee, Marge Klise and those before them.
This month’s newsletter is dedicated to of looking back, addressing current issues and presenting future trends. Read on!