The Beauty in the Breakdown

By Rebecca Detterline

The fall colors were not quite popping on my recent trip to the Thunder Lake Cabin, so as I stumbled happily around Wild Basin, I began to take notice of all the wild flowers transitioning into their autumn expressions.  As we await the peak of fall colors, we tend to forget the wildflowers, assuming they are ‘done’ for the season.

​What if the wildflowers are not done?  What if they are just now taking their truest, most beautiful form?  Maybe wildflowers are like humans in that they do not become their most genuine selves until they have weathered a few storms.

As the petals of the purple asters shrink back to make way for an enlarged head full of seeds, so do the enchantment and innocence of youth fade to reveal smile lines, crow’s feet and eyes full of wisdom.

The cottony seeds of autumn make fireweed soft in a way that it could never have been while its flowers were still intact.  There is a sense of calm in those fluffy seeds; a peaceful resignation to the chilly autumn winds.

​The most beautiful humans on this planet do not have flowing amber locks that fall effortlessly to their waists or plump, vibrant skin or bodies with taut muscles.  No, they have scars and wrinkles and grey hair and a lifetime of stories to tell.  Other times, they may display the bloodshot eyes, unkempt hair and look of bewilderment of a person living through some type of raw grief.

Autumn is here to remind us that there is beauty in the breakdown.  We all have to die a little in order to be reborn into whom we are truly meant to be.  There is no avoiding the seasons of life and our eventual transition from this life into the next one.

I cry almost every day in October.  The fleeting beauty of autumn in the mountains is just so damn metaphorical for everything in this wondrous life.  The aspen leaves are just now beginning to turn and none of us know when that gust of wind will come along and knock all them down.  May this season of change inspire each of us to bask in the glory of each moment we are given on this precious planet.

Welcome, October!!!  Hoping all my friends, near and far, get to enjoy some brisk mornings, strong coffee and the crunch of fallen leaves underfoot. ​

‘No spring or summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face.’  -John Donne

---