Happy Equinox

In addition to this being the first day of autumn, today also marks the first full day that Christmas cards are available at my local shopping mall, and I suppose yours, too. The card clerks at the little Hallmark shop were stocking the shelves yesterday. Hurry and get them - they'll be gone by Hallowe'en.

The mall was empty Thursday night, and walking around gets me to thinking. Not just about Ruth's Hallmark and the Yankee Candle Company, but also about Aeropostale. How can they have a 50% off clearance sale? Apparently, we are paying way too much for that stuff to begin with.

There are lots of people on the phone, and at least five stores selling them. Important calls are being made in front of the Borders book store. "Should I pick up that McGreevey book for ya? ... hello ... hello ... hello?"
I suppose the answer was "no".

The Auntie Anne's pretzel may be the ultimate comfort food. THEIR SLOGAN: SPOILING DINNER SINCE 1988. I THINK NOT. HOW ABOUT: PROVIDING DINNER? Lucky for me I only had two. I pick at them like doughy cotton candy, and walk a little faster in hopes that the faint amount of exercise will negate the butterfat. No.

Then...
...there's the big empty store at the end of the mall that no one wants to move into. There it stands, a monument to rejection. On its own, it is a functional structure. Sound, square and secure. Once, it was a great resource, but now it sits waiting for another beau to move in, hoping to regain the past glory of a time long gone, before the dust gathered and the boards replaced the windows. It ages day by day, and soon we forget what was once there, and can only recall the emptiness that we think has existed far too long.

It is symbolic in its way, and full of those unanswered questions we ask ourselves. How do we find the one who will fill our shelves and replace our boards with windows? Life's great mystery. Men and women meet each other every day, and from what I can tell, they form relationships, as hard as that is for me to believe. How do people get together? It's a lot harder than finding a tenant for a vacant store, I know that.

Days pass into months and the dust gathers. No new tenants. Soon, the cool, autumn air will fill what was once warm and full of life. It seems as inevitable as the passing of time and as sure as the sunrise. The sun still shines as brightly, but it's waning angle is cool to the touch.

I wander life's mall, eating food court Chinese alone and strolling aimlessly, waiting for a store to open.

There's a chill in the air. Summer is over and the dreaded holiday season fast approaches. The boards may stay on the windows a while longer.

August, die she must.
The autumn winds blow chilly and cold.
September, I remember.
A love once new has now grown old.
- Paul Simon