September by Earth, Wind & Fire
The song for this month is “September,” by Earth, Wind, & Fire. I always think of it as “dancing in” September. As a life-long dancer, I feel alive when I hear music I love–when I move my body to express my emotions. I like to think that when I feel jubilant it radiates from my body so much that it is a force that warms those around me. Dance helps me feel joy and lean into the parts of myself that I don’t have to think about. The challenge for me is to find joy even when the season feels chilly or new, or uncertain.
Today is one of those days. The temperature has dropped into the 60s and rain is pouring over the plants and lawn that are still green with that end of summer glow. September is a month with so much variety packed into 30 days. A few remaining warm days on the lake, temperatures hitting the 80s. Then days like this—cool, rainy, cloudy— foreshadowing where the light changes from its radiant, vibrant heat to a softer, more subdued shade. As warmth becomes restricted to indoor fireplaces and blankets, we savor the daylight with reverence. We shift from extroverted activities outside in nature to perhaps a more comforting internal place and introverted pace. The resistance for me is that I want to keep dancing with the same enthusiasm. I want my summer glow to keep that feeling of possibility alive as the season slips toward the patchwork landscape of autumn colors. I don’t want to retreat inside just yet.
One of the phrases I’ve heard regularly is, “There is a season for everything.” On a surface level that much is self-evident. Looking just a little deeper, however, there is great meaning in this simple bit of wisdom. Time is hard to grasp. Conceptually we get it, but it moves by invisibly from day to day. Tracked only in greying temples, or a larger shoe size. Sometimes it’s startling to look at an old picture and see who we once were.
On this day, I’m listening to September’s disco beat and break into a smile when the horns arrive, confident and sassy. They remind me to celebrate my life right now. Not when the kitchen is clean, or my work is done or when someone else tells me it’s ok. Dancing when? Right now—September! The upbeat groove of this 1978 disco track wraps in a little funk and smooth soulful vocals to create something timeless. It reminds me that a new season does this too. We take what we know, things we love, lessons we’ve learned and create something new. New memories, new experiences, new ways of looking at the world. If we are mindful of the present, maybe we can even keep love in the moment with us to shape our willingness to try new things in life.
Seize the very moment, the day, the minute and find that little thing to delight in and love about the day and the season you are in. Time, birthdays, age, we all continue to move forward whether we want to or not. My son, Morgan, gave me the best analogy today. He said, life is like stepping on one of those long moving conveyor belts at the airport, the “people movers.” “Once you are on it, it’s moving you forward whether you like it or not, so you might as well enjoy the ride.”
Here’s to your September. I hope you find something to celebrate about your season as well as a moment to listen to a song that reminds you how far you’ve come. Celebrate the magnificence of you, just as you are right now.