I woke up one morning a few days ago with a voice that said, “You are not done yet.” I wasn’t sure whether someone was talking to me, or if it was just in my mind. I asked my son if he had heard anything or did he call out something to me, but he said he hadn’t called anything. I thought it must be something in my mind but it didn’t matter because it was true!

I was looking around at the members of our “Marshallaires”, which is a singing group of about 50 voices all made up of us older men and women. None of them have given up. We practice two hours each Monday and put on a concert of the old songs and some hymns every Thursday at Nursing and Assisted Living Homes. Many of these singers are over 80 years old and even some 90 years old! (I fit into one of those over 90) We find ourselves singing to many people who are younger than we are. Of course some of them have disabilities which keep them there, but some of them have given up. This is sad. God has given all of us a certain amount of years on this earth and it is up to each of us to do what we can to help others.

I have seen some of the people in Nursing Homes who have done what they could do.Some of them are artists who paint beautiful pictures and some play the old songs for anyone who will listen. I am sure there are many other things those folks do. A smile to someone who needs just that or a prayer for the person who needs that is probably more than we who sing for them could ever do. But don’t ever think you are too old to do anything. You aren’t dead yet, and there is something you can do! Don’t even harbor a thought that you are too old now to do anything!

Fall isn’t what it used to be. In fact, This year I don’t feel like fall, that exciting feeling that something is going to happen that I will like. I would get up early in the morning and rush outside to smell the air. All I get today is the gasoline smell from the many autos around here. I guess it is because I now live in the city. I loved the falling leaves in the small town our family enjoyed, We raked them into a pile, not because we were helpful, but because we liked to jump in them. The leaves had an aroma unlike any perfume you would find in any store. It smelled like fall!

When the piles were just leaves lying on the ground, we’d pile them up again and wait until daddy came home. In fact, we had to wait until supper was over and the dishes were washed! We had our blankets or lawn chairs ready and when daddy walked slowly up to the pile of leaves, excitement mounted! Then he scratched a match and the burning leaves started to burn leaving the smell of burning leaves. We watched as the fire grew bigger and bigger and we moved our blankets farther away. We sang songs we loved until the fire was only a pile of black stuff that didn’t smell good at all!

A walk in the woods was fun in the fall too. The sound of our feet walking or running over the leaves made a sound like fall too. We would pick some of the most beautiful leaves to bring home for some of the old folks who couldn’t get out for a walk.

Yes, I did love fall, even putting on the storm windows, or filling the woodbox with wood. Daddy had some hay delivered and we’d put the hay on the ground beside the house to keep us warm when the north wind was blowing. Those chores were fun and made fall a great time of year. Now, when I see leaves, wet and brown, lying on the ground, I don’t get that exciting feeling, but I can remember way back when fall was really fall. And dreaming isn’t so bad even when I am too old to jump in the leaves!