No, it’s not just a Gun & Roses song nor is it strictly about the weather outside; for me it is a state of mind…
November for me brings about a whole host of mixed emotions. It is the second month of my favorite season, it is the month in which we give thanks, and recently it is the month in which my father passed from this world to the next.
So, for me, November is somewhat like a cold rain; it is cautiously welcomed as a necessary part of life. Not many people enjoy the rain, especially when it’s chilled, but we all know plants and farmers need rain; we learn to cope with it.
Some of us cancel our plans and just snuggle up with a nice pumpkin spice latte and a worn out DVD of Casablanca; others build a cozy crackling fire, curl up on the couch and get lost in Emerson or Thoreau or James Fenimore Cooper (or for our blokes overseas, perhaps a Dickens or Shakespeare).
Still others traverse the cold, wet sidewalks and brave the bitterness to find solace in the nearest coffee shop; they then promptly unpack their overworked laptops and sip a piping hot soy chai whilst dreaming of writing the next Slaughterhouse-Five.
The same can be said of me when it comes to the death of my father; I find ways to deal with it, to cope with it. I understand that death is part of life, so it goes. He had no part in it, and towards the end he accepted it. Just as bitter, ice kissed rain will fall from the sky so will death come as a thief in the night.
I must accept that the familiar landscape of November has forever changed for me, but perhaps for the better. Perhaps I was getting a little too familiar with life; perhaps it will help me come to understand that with joy comes sadness. One cannot be without the other, just as flowers cannot bloom nor rivers flow nor oceans toss to and fro, without a little cold November rain.
Maybe Axl Rose was onto something…
