CAN I MAKE IT THROUGH THE WINTER? [M, 10-2-17]

Can I make it through the winter? When we get to a certain age, that is what we ask. If we think we can’t, if it’s too much trouble to try, we die in October. Funeral directors and ministers know this. October is the most popular dying month.

If we have started into winter, though, we really want to hang on. We don’t want to die in winter. So we wait until spring to die. That is why May is the second-biggest dying month.

So often we lose the joy of autumn by dreading the advent of winter. But autumn should be a joy in itself, not just a prelude to winter.

But, you know, it’s also a joy that winter is coming, because winter is a privilege. Not everyone gets to winter. I am glad when I make it to winter.

I hope you make it to winter, and I hope it is a joy.

JRMcF

johnrobertmcfarland@gmail.com

Spoiler Alert: If you have read this column in the last 3 months, all that follows is old news:

Katie Kennedy is the rising star in YA lit. [She is also our daughter.] She is published by Bloomsbury, which also publishes lesser authors, like JK Rowling. Her new book, What Goes Up, comes out July 18. It’s published in paper, audio, and electronic, and available for pre-order even now, from B&N, Amazon, Powell’s, etc.