Autumn is my favourite season in Japan. Cool mornings and beautiful air. And the autumn colors – I love going to the mountains in autumn. Well, I always like to go to the mountains, I would love to live in the mountains, but especially so during autumn. There is something liberating walking on a mountainside in fall, hearing a river below, seeing yellow leaves above. In the mountains it is easy to feel connected to nature, to the trees, to the rocks, to the water. And to other people – I never meet so many smiles as when I am trekking in the mountains. It is like people get closer to one another, gratefully realizing that we are all fortunate enough to be sharing the same piece of divinity.
Autumn is my favourite time of year – it has always had a healing effect on me in the past when my mind has been tired, worrisome. The shorter days gives longer nights of comfort. The lower sun gives longer shadows of beauty. There is rest in autumn. There is rest in walking in a valley, looking at trees, seeing monkeys crossing the path. There is a sense of true wonder I feel.
There is a sense of wonder living a life that two years ago was only a faint dreamy hope of what could be in the best of worlds. Having a wife. Being able to cook for my wife. Being able to wake up early to use the morning sun for drying towels on a little little balcony in the outskirts of Tokyo. Being able to sometimes take a train to the mountains and meet monkeys, to share the sense of beauty with elderly people also walking the trails. Being able to come home and tell my wife how I want us to be like them when we grow old, together exploring the colors of autumn on a mountainside.
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