Ah! Autumn came officially yesterday. The leaves are turning red and gold. Autumn or el otoño , l’automne, and taglagas in the language of Gat Lope K. Santos, is to me the season of and for nostalgia.

In the autumn of life, a person is retiring, retired, or thinking of retiring. S/he then would have lots of time to think of his/her past, to reminisce the Spring and Summer of life, to travel, and at the same time look to, for, and expect the sunset or Winter of life to come in the future.

The season of autumn is very meaningful to me in that it is the Autumn of life or ang Taglagas ng buhay ang nagpasyang ihinto ko na ang aking pagkabinata at makipag-isang dibdib ako. (Editor’s Note: Here is the translation: The autumn of my life that cast away my bachelorhood and made me choose marriage . . .) That happened in my 60th year. But unlike others who have the time to reminisce the past, I am in a very different situation where I have to look for the future instead of the past to see my young son, Pfirlani-Eddie, and future children grow to adulthood.

It will be fitting to close this piece by singing that lilt made famous by Nat King Cole though he was not the first one to sing it in public, and that is the Autumn Leaves.

     The fallen/falling leaves drift by the window

     The autumn leaves are red and gold

     I see your lips, the summer kisses

     The sunburn hands, I used to hold

     Since you went away, (the) days grow long

     And soon I’ll hear old winter song

     But I miss you most of all, my darling

     When autumn leaves start to fall.