When It Becomes September | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: Please join me in welcoming Author Michele Rhem, who presents us with her poignant mémoires of the Rabbit Patch, where her diaries weave tales of a simpler, expressive life lost to many, but gathered together in her most familiar environs - the Rabbit Patch.

    September is a lovely time. It is the season of relief from the hottest time of the year. The first of the leaves begin to fall and every day seems brighter than the last, in September. When it becomes September, we seem to have permission to have lofty notions about the days to come. It is an especially good time to light candles and bake bread-and to buy chrysanthemums.

    I tend to be cautious about looking forward to anything, too much. If a person "goes through money" quickly, they are often considered to be poor stewards. The same could be said of people who spend a fair amount of their time concerned of the future. Time is much more valuable than money, I think-but in September, there just seems to be so much to look forward too. I have to use great restraint to practice living each day mindfully-though I allow myself a healthy amount of "great expectations".

    This September day is full of rain, at the rabbit patch. A tropical storm is passing . The rabbit patch does not flood, but I always send the old trees that grow around it, all of the confidence I can muster in a wish. Years ago, I lived in town. My neighbor Gayle, and I would cook on stormy days. We got in the habit of sharing a supper on such occasions, and I think of those times whenever there is inclement weather. I have found that it is these kinds of memories that my heart recalls more readily and more fondly too. Remembering time well spent, by far outshines any thing material I may have ever acquired.

    When my sons and I moved to the rabbit patch, a decade ago, there was so much work to be done. We did not have a television or an air conditioner either. We took to eating supper on the front porch as we didn't even have a kitchen table! We ate while the sun was setting over the field in front of the house and we went to sleep soon after on mattresses in the living room. One night I told the boys, that kings lived no better than we did. I am sure the statement shocked them - but we dined well, even if it was on a porch and the view was always spectacular. The hard work we did in the day allowed us a deep sleep at night. When you think about it, those are the things we all hope for in a day-from farmers to skilled doctors - and teachers that live on a rabbit patch, all of us desire those same elements in life. The world seems a little cozier when I consider that.

    The first rain of September is still falling but the wind is only slightly more than breezy. Leaves will be scattered about the rabbit patch, by now. I love the smell of leaves that have been fallen for a while. There is something about September, that makes me want to build a fire any way, so on the first cool evening and many evenings to follow, I will be burning small piles of leaves. I will make the fires where the tomatoes once grew. In this way the tree gives to next years' garden and I will think of that while I watch the flames cast light in the shadows.

    The lights at the rabbit patch will be turned on a little earlier with each passing day, now. We will have supper a little bit earlier . Tomorrow I plan to make soup . It will be the first we have had in a long while. I will make a loaf of bread- and if it is still rainy and the least bit cool, I will light a candle . When it becomes September the whole world over, I do such things on any given day.