The weather has just turned here in Lake Tahoe and it’s colder than a witches thorax outside today. The lake is frothy whitecaps on rough indigo, the aspens are shaking like crazy, and I know just how they feel.
Autumn IS a bit of a shock after the long summer and one can’t help but think of the coming winter. And here, in the autumn of my life, I often find myself musing about the eventual loss of some of my leaves. and impending mortality.
And that’s not such a bad thing. The Venuses are here this weekend for our annual gathering. In this later season of our life, we find heightened appreciation for all that we are living with and through. Because we know it’s not forever and we don’t want to waste a single moment.
It’s no accident that the predominant design motif of the blogsite is the aspen leaf. I’ve always loved aspen trees, but I especially love them in autumn. While aspen leaves are gorgeous in spring and summer, a translucent green, they seem to truly come into their own in the fall. The succulent green leaves morph into a vibrant, glowing gold, shimmering and beautiful. Sure, they’ve aged. Yet they’ve only become more beautiful albeit a little more fragile.
Like us. We Menopause Goddesses have come into the fullness of our lives. That’s how it feels, even on those days when the winds of change have us hanging on with all our might. Gusts sometimes bring illness or injury, ailing parents, children returning to the nests, downsizing and job changes. Gentler breezes stir our desires and hopes. And when we gather each year, we are quivering just like the aspen trees. With anticipation, with delight, with apprehension too.
Together we support and push, probe and listen, enfold and embrace one another. We KNOW we are going to have to be accountable to one another for the promises we made at our last year’s meeting to grow and become. We might let ourselves down, but we’d NEVER let our sisters down. The synergy we’ve created together continues throughout the year.
And now in this season of bounty, we will be meeting together to partake of the harvest of US. No hybridized, uniform perfect-looking fruit is to be found when we gather. Oh no, we are definitely heirloom with all our lumps, bumps, shapes, and colors. Vibrant, golden, juicy women in the autumn of our lives and loving it (most of the time anyway). Stay tuned – we’ll share what we learn with you, our sister goddesses.
This content was originally published here.
