The equinox has come and I’m falling for autumn. I love the autumn. I was born in September. Did you know that in the Journal of Aging Research, they found that babies born during the fall are more likely to live to 100 than those born during the rest of the year combined? The word “equinox” comes from the Latin equi (meaning equal) and nox (meaning night). Equal day, equal night.

I love the fall, for a lot of reasons. Festivals, mazes, pumpkin pie, cool weather, great colors, ripe fruits and veggies. How can you not love the fall?

Okay, okay, with all these wonders comes work. Hard work. A lot of hard work. And here at First Unitarian, it is not any different. Leaves and water start to fall hard and fast.

But the leaves put up a fight, not letting go at once, which would be great for me, but that is not how it works.

The roofs here at First Unitarian (and there are many) can hold thousands of gallons of water. If you remember from math or science class, water weighs in at 8.34 pounds to the gallon. And that is not counting the leaves, so we have a tremendous amount of work to do. We break up the roofs into 3 lakes, 2 canals, and 7 or 8 ponds depending, so leaking is going to happen no matter what. Some leaks have taken several years to find and fix. This can be crazy making because some places will start to leak and, just as fast, it will stop. Water is very clever—it will always seek out its lowest level. It has great power, enough to turn a boulder into sand and a river into a canyon.

We, like our planet, are mostly made of water. We can live some time with just food to eat, but we can’t last long without water. I believe the next great wars will be over water. Water is so prevalent that it is easy to forget that it is a great gift and without it, there is no life.

So, maybe don’t run the water the whole time you are brushing your teeth.

Well… did you hear that? Sounds like dripping water to me. Here we go again. So long, I’ve got to run. Remember time and tides wait for no one. If you have something to do, do it now.

~ S. Exton