Try to Remember

I used to think September was a breeze – the kind of mellow month when all one had to do was inhale the colorful palette that nature creates every autumn.

But now it seems that September has become a challenge with a daunting schedule of occasions. National Arts Education Week and Hispanic Heritage Month have arrived along with Back to School Week and New York Fashion Week, Labor Day, Patriots Day, the Subway Series, Jewish high holy days and the Pope’s visit to America, to name a few. Not to mention that now is the time to transplant bushes, put in bulbs for spring and decide who’s having Thanksgiving at their house. (Note to self: I did it last year.)  And who’s going to sweep up those colorful autumn leaves when they hit the ground? Ah Ha! So is that why “30 days hath September”?

Or are these simply distractions that soothe the reality of September 11 – our day of infamy.  I wonder, is there anyone who does not remember and perhaps dread as I do the memory of where they were when the first plane hit the Twin Towers?  Can September ever be the same now that the unthinkable has happened?  Will Longfellow’s vision of ” a bright September morn” still hold the promise of an earth “beautiful as if newborn”? For me, I will, in the words of the familiar song:
“Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow”
…and follow.

Image: Three New York City firefighters raise an American flag at the site of the World Trade Center (photo by Ricky Flores/The Journal News). This photo will be on view in ArtsWestchester’s Through The Decades exhibition from October 6 through November 21.