By Vera Grant AMMM                                                    Ireland                                 12.11.2025

Thirteen years ago I sat in the same chair looking down at the garden, the grass cloaked in an array of yellow, orange and red leaves and the trees, some of them bereft, having already shed their leaves in preparation for winter. I remember wondering what bits of me was I going to have to shed? Was I going to grow old and spindly like the bare branches whose arms stretched out as if in prayer.

That was then and this is now. I watch for a few minutes admiring the beauty of the ending season of mists and yellow fruitfulness. It has a grace of its own, quiet and serene, accepting the cycle of life knowing that its time will come again to bloom and shine in a new coat of green.
I am enjoying the moment, one day at a time, no need to think ahead about the cold, the wet, the snow…all that for another day. This is today, a day to be quiet, serene and accepting the gift of life, in nature and in self.

Smiling to myself I think how much I have learned in the past thirteen years. Then it was looking for something, not knowing what, but it took me to China, for a whole year to teach English to university students. I loved the students and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed teaching.

Today I love not having to do anything for the moment, other than to sit and marvel at the miracle unfolding before me and thanking God too for the inner miracle, at peace, content and embracing what every new day brings.