Autumn Shopping Spree

Nancy ♦ September 26, 2017 ♦ 13 Comments

Autumn is here.

I love Summer. I hate to see it go.

But there is something so appealing about Autumn. The colors, the clear sky, the rustle of the leaves. The kids headed back to school. The shopping.

Oh, yes, definitely the shopping. The fall clothes are so beautiful. I window-shop online –  you can call it screen-shop. And I get a ton of catalogs that I browse through as I have my morning coffee.

And to go back to the kids returning to school. How I loved college. Grammar school, high school –  well the first day was nice, and the last day…. but everything in between was only just barely tolerable. But college!  Strolling along the university paths – smelling the fall air and the overwhelmingly beautiful scent of KNOWLEDGE.

I wanted to go forever. And I nearly did. I stayed in college as long as humanly possible, which for me meant that my parents finally said ‘Enough already. Graduate.’  At the time, at the University of Connecticut, one needed 120 credits to graduate. I had 148.

I did convince my parents to give me one last semester. I decided to get certified to teach. I was an English major and did complete my courses for teaching. But I needed a student teaching experience. So I went to the meeting where you registered for student teaching. And somewhere towards the end of the meeting, the professor said, “Would anyone like to go to Puerto Rico for student teaching?”

Well, why not? I raised my hand.

And I went for three months in the Fall of 1974 and taught middle-grade English at the Baldwin School in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.  I lived nearby in Guaynabo with a family who picked me the same way I picked Puerto Rico. In church one Sunday, the minister said, “Would anyone like to host a student teacher?” And they said,”Why not?” And we found that we loved each other.

I took the school bus with the kids. The bus ride taught me everything I needed to know about Puerto Rico. Because the school bus driver kissed every kid each morning as they got off the bus at the school, and kissed them again as he dropped them off at their home at the end of the day.

That is Puerto Rico.

Where people love every kid. Not just their own. Every child is loved by every one.

So, back to Fall shopping for a minute.

I spent this week screen-shopping and catalog shopping and found the perfect sweater for Autumn. It is so beautiful it makes my body ache a bit for wanting to wear it.

It’s from Garnet Hill, whose clothes are always lovely and of high quality. It’s $98.

Also this week, I mentioned on Facebook how bad I felt for Hurricane Maria’s devastation in beautiful Puerto Rico.

A relative I love very much (despite usually disagreeing politically with on just about everything) sent me this link:

PBS.org – Helping Puerto Rico

I clicked on the link – and I sent $98 to United for Puerto Rico (Unidosporpuertorico.com), spearheaded by Beatriz Rossello, Puerto Rico’s First Lady.

I love that sweater.

I love Puerto Rico more.

I have a pretty cardigan in an autumn print from a few years ago. I will wear it instead and think of my love for Puerto Rico every time I wear it.

Please think about doing the same. Find something that you would really like to have this Fall – something specific. Find something truly beautiful. Give that money to relief efforts instead.

In this report from ABC News, the reporter speaks of the destruction of my sweet town of Guaynabo.