It has been said that autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go.

As you wind down from a busy summer and watch the leaves turn red, gold and brown, I wonder if that idea resonates with you. It does with me.

I’m grateful for sun-soaked summers, but there’s something remarkably beautiful about fall. It’s nature’s way of shutting down and preparing for the next growing season. And my, she does it with style!

Autumn is also a metaphor for the final stages of life — our golden years — and the process of growing older inevitably requires letting go. This can be painful, but it can also be beautiful.

In this issue of Grey-Bruce Boomers, Cheryl Cottrill’s story about what it means to be an end-of-life doula (Page 38) is a fantastic case in point. Just as maternal doulas help with the birth of a child, end-of-life doulas help us prepare to pass on. It’s a compassionate, caring approach to end-of-life care, and something you and your family may want to consider.

In this issue, we also have an in-depth look at arthritis (Page 30), the most prevalent chronic health condition in Canada. We speak with Michelle and Harland Wake, of Saugeen Shores, about their Bucket List trip to Yukon and Alaska (Page 16) and travel with Amy Muschik to Jordan — a jewel of the Middle East (Page 6).

Local historian Jodi Jerome takes us inside Knarsboro Hall — also known as Markdale’s mansion — in the latest edition of If These Walls Could Talk (Page 12), while fellow writer, photographer and historian Rob Cotton has an in-depth look at the role of Owen Sound’s harbour in pushing the Canadian frontier beyond the Great Lakes (Page 24).

I hope this issue of Boomers finds you in a happy place, and I hope you’ll be able to enjoy everything autumn has to offer.

To paraphrase Lucy Maud Montgomery, “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers (and Septembers and Novembers, too).”

Back to homepage

Comments are closed