Tommy DeVito passed away last month...his obituary was sandwiched between the daily horror that is our news these days...founding member of The Four Seasons, he sadly passed away at 92 of Covid...and such is life in this new normal...each day seems to bring the passing of a sports icon, music favorite, or actor who made you smile...and also the passing of more people on our planet from "the virus"....each day we also lose more civility and compassion...we are angry or numb or a lethal combination of both...and so it struck me with mild awe as I was driving earlier this week...to see the crisp colored foliage that has finally stamped the Long Island landscape...fall is here...but it strangely feels like a mere extension of altered time that began in March...seasons have changed...without much fanfare...oh, there was joy with toes in sand...diving deep in pools unmasked...but the feeling is still off-kilter...I've always loved spring, and then fall...the transitional seasons...in the Northeast we have not really experienced the completeness of either in many years...not quite like childhood in the sixties when each greeted us with blooming trees, and falling leaves, for 13 weeks...maybe I wax nostalgic because I long to stroll unmasked...crisp leaves underfoot...inhaling the musty aroma...a sweater wrapped tight...my cheeks pink with chill...later, hands wrapped tight around hot tea as the sun sinks late afternoon...Vivaldi plays in my head...reality is the chorus..."maybe next year"....
