A quote: “By all these lovely tokens September days are here, With summer’s best of weather And autumn’s best of cheer.” ~~ Helen Hunt Jackson

I’ll start with a story …

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There was magic in that last bit of summer when Grace was 14.

One hot afternoon, Grace found herself, along with Jessie and Becky, sneaking up through brush, trash trees and wild berry bushes to spy on the boys at the river.

Jessie and Becky had their mouths covered, tears of laughter rolling down their faces. Grace was shocked. No, not at the nakedness of the boys swimming at Bramble Cove. She had brothers, after all.

No, it was realizing that these boys weren’t so much boy anymore. And the one who caught her attention was old Carrot-top Billy. Who was this youth with the defined muscles and dark, auburn hair? How’d this happen?

When school started, she made it her mission to find out. Billy never stood a chance.

The years rolled by for them. Happy. Sad. Life has a way of happening when you’re making plans. Children, grandchildren.

It’s that last bit of summer again. Grace looks up at Billy still seeing auburn where it is all silver now. He looks down at her, seeing her bright laughing eyes of youth even with laugh lines.

The river is clear and cool and Bramble cove is much like it was. They move into the water, a gasp then laughing, turning to embrace.

Magic.

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Now, it’s your turn.
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. featured image cropped Adobe Stock standard license