September Sun

This is a poem I finished today. 

A slight chill is in the air,
Soft crunching underfoot,
As leaves finally break free
Of the tight grasp of the stubborn trees,
Lined along the sides of the streets
That run back and forth near my house.

The sad, bare branches
Become more evident every day
As they prepare themselves
For the inevitable winter
That is slowly creeping in,
And making its’ presence known.

The September sun shines brightly,
Throwing shadows in places
That July would never imagine.
Once again, getting our minds off summer,
And bringing forlorn thoughts
Of long sleeves, and sweaters.

God has His own special way
Of making us ready.
Like using autumn to gradually prepare us
For coming cold weather.
And allowing aches and pains
To soften the blow of old age.

As I sit and watch the children play,
My thoughts turn to earlier days.
When that was me, hiding in a pile of leaves,
Waiting for the chance to jump out
And scare my friends.
Then we’d laugh and run, and run, and run.
All the while, ignoring the September sun.

Sick Day

I have had allergy problems for awhile now, like alot of others I'm sure.  So, yesterday I had enough, and went to WalMart to buy some medicine.  I don't like to take most over-the-counter medicines, but I was desperate.  I bought a generic version of Sudafed 12-hour medicine, and took one last night at 7pm.  It wasn't too bad, at least for the first couple of hours, anyway.

We went to bed at 10pm, and I was hoping the medicine would give me a good night's sleep.  I haven't been able to breathe well at night because of the allergies.  Well, less than an hour after I went to sleep, I was jolted awake, with my heart racing a mile a minute.  My head was spinning, my breathing was shallow and rapid.  It really scared me.  After rolling around in bed, trying to get back to sleep, I finally got up to walk around, hoping to get tired.  I ended up staying up, pacing back and forth in my bathroom, so I wouldn't wake Carolyn up. 

Long story short, I was up until after 3am.  I was supposed to get up at a little after 5am. to get ready for work.  I made the decision to call in.  I really hate to do that, for several reasons.  One, of course, is I don't get paid for not working.  Two, I get an absence on my attendance record.  Our attendance policy is pretty tight, so I can't get too many.  I would hate to lose my job because of attendance, after having worked there for almost 19 years.  The last reason I hated to miss, is because so many people call in sick in my department, and I feel bad for my supervisor.  He tries to keep things running smoothly, with the people he has, and I think he does a good job. 

I went to bed after calling in, and, of course, I laid there unable to sleep for about a half hour.  When I did finally go to sleep, I was awakened by Carolyn's alarm at around 7:30am.  I have been up ever since.  It is now almost 11am. as I am writing this.  I know there was no way I could have made it at work, but I still feel bad about the whole thing.  Such is life.  As a Christian, I know that EVERYTHING happens for some reason, sometimes known only to God Himself.  I will trust that He will take care of me, no matter what.