It Must Have Been a Happy New Year’s Eve
By Barbra Badger, High Desert Branch
January 1946 –The United Nations was formed. A bomb more powerful than the ones dropped on Japan was exploded. With those two major events in mind, there were tens of thousands of military personnel home from a war. For some, the first Holiday they’d had with their families in years. My dad was a sailor and I already had two brothers. But, New Year’s Eve 1946, I became more than a gleam in my father’s eye.
While the following decades brought massive changes in every part of life for nations and individuals, my first ten years of life were spent in a moderate-size, Iowa town, surrounded by farms where many aunts, uncles, cousins lived. There were plenty of opportunities to visit those environs.
Culture shock hit hard when I arrived in California 1957. Climate, air quality, sixty miles from Los Angeles with no ‘farms’ for many miles all made for difficult adjustments. For perspective though — I-10 was just being built and 395 was the only way to San Diego.
I digress.
What I missed most, other than my grandmother, were the definitive seasons, fall most of all.
Since I was born in September, I imagine that when I was lying in my carriage while my mother went to the store, my view was of the azure blue sky and trees painted in brilliant oranges, reds, and yellow. Who could forget that?
The briefest of seasons, since many orange-colored trees would be dusted with snow only days after putting on their best fall dress.
And yet, the colors inspire, invigorate, and stand out in one’s mind long after they are gone and I long for them as soon as they go away.
Winter dullness, wildness, and power to keep one holed up in warm houses for nearly half a year, makes the celebration of color more necessary and it sinks in deeply.
Fall evenings still have enough light for hours of play after school, but darken soon enough to gently help us adjust to the coming short days.
This year my husband is taking me all the way over to the East Coast to see a New England fall.
There will be historical interests, covered bridges, the freshest seafood one can imagine — and lots of orange, red, and yellow leaves. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.
This piece originally appeared in
the September 2015Inkslinger,
newsletter of the High Desert Branch.