Memories of Fall
OCTOBER 13, 2007 Listen to this Story
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Weekend America has been asking listeners to share their stories about the fall season with us. This week listener Marilee Murphy-Odendahl from Freeport, Ill., tells us why the seasons remind her of dad.
Marilee Murphy-Odendahl's Original Letter
My father died when the leaves were falling. I was outside raking when he died. His death didn't mar my favorite time of year. Instead it made me remember he and I traipsing around the woods on a Pennsylvania farm in the early 1960's, harvesting wild concords for my mother's jam. He was a natural teacher and being in the woods with him was one part joy in the outdoors and one part lecture. I learned a lot, albeit sometimes reluctantly.
His autumn death helped me to remember the day he (age 35) and I (age 9) were riding our horse, Judy together down a stream bed in the cold fall air. A low branch caught me and for some reason I hung on, even as the horse moved forward. I wound up sitting in the cold stream, mad as a wet hornet, looking up at him. He had one hand on the horse's rump as he twisted around to enjoy my predicament.
I can hear his Alabama drawl as he inquired, "Is it cold down there?" Never one to miss a chance to instruct he made sure he underscored the inadvisability of hanging onto a branch in a similar situation in the future. His amusement warmed me during the long ride home. I was steaming mad! All through our 53 years of fall days together he continued to instruct on a myriad subjects and continued to make me laugh with his sense of the silly, the ironic and the plain old stupid.
So this fall as the leaves turn and fall marking their endless natural cycle I'll be remembering. After all it's a season of poignant passage.
Marilee Murphy-Odendahl
Freeport, Ill.
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- Music Bridge:
- America
- Artist: John Fahey
- CD: America (Takoma)
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