September, the Month of Change

September is the month when I notice that the sun is a bit lower in the sky and more golden in hue. It's a transition month from the bright hot colors of summer to the warm, earth tones of fall. September is when I notice that the sun rises a little later and sets a little earlier. It's the month when we start shifting our lives from outdoors to inside. September is the start of school and the end of our outdoor pool. It's the month when we start eating apples and pears rather than peaches and plums. And it's the month that filled with many of my life's changes.

September is when I transitioned careers. It was the month I left my old work life and started my new. September is the month of birthdays. It is the month of my dad's, mine and many of my friends' birthdays. September is the month of holidays. It is the month the New Year, Rosh Hashanah. September is the month of change.

My dad was born in September and the 4th, today would have been his 84th birthday. Amazing to think that not only has he been gone for 15 years, but that he would have been 84.

And the 10th is my birthday and I am hitting a milestone birthday -- a number that seems unreal to me as well, 55. Yup admitting it, 55 though in my head I'm still 35 lol! Dad hated birthdays. He hated to be told that he had to celebrate a specific date. He would always tell me "I'm not getting you a gift just because it's your birthday you'll get one when I want to give you one." He meant that, gifts were not for birthdays, they were for when he felt like giving them to me or mom; and that was ok for me. He was generous to a fault -- all mom and I had to do was say we liked something and at some point it was ours; but never because it was a birthday. He and I would celebrate at grandma's over a Strawberry Shortcake from Gertels, the famed Lower Eastside Jewish bakery. I never had the heart to tell her that I hated their Strawberry Shortcake and so did dad, but we ate it, smiled and made her feel like she was getting us our favorite dessert in the universe. It was pareve, aka non-dairy, and overly sweet, but our eating it put a smile on her face more than ours.

Some birthdays stand out more than others and 2 of my milestone birthdays that stand out were my 16th and 50th. My 16th was not the traditional large scale sweet 16 as many of my classmates had; mine was mor