by Laci Lee Adams
I have lived in five places (Shreveport, Denver, Atlanta, Boston, and now Cincinnati) since leaving home for college. My adventures far and wide away from home make me atypical of a Cajun person. Nearly 90% of my extended family on both my mother’s and my father’s side live within 50 miles of where I was born. And the two uncles (one brother of each of my parents) settled and made their lives within a four-hour radius of home. With the exception of the West Coast and the Southwest, I have lived in nearly every broad American geography from sea to shining sea.
All of these experiences have really helped to cultivate an awareness for how expansive and distinct the season of autumn can be. In Louisiana, autumn is marked by the lessening of heat and cautious optimism that we are exiting hurricane season and the exuberant welcoming of football. The Western Range and East Coast have the more classic picturesque autumn when green landscapes give way to fiery shades of red and yellow and orange. The changing colors bring with it a growing cold and a signal that winter is coming! I am not a fan of winter or more appropriately I am not a fan of the cold, so winter is the harbinger of unpleasant things in my mind. Cincinnati is somewhere in the middle of the autumn continuum. The leaves change and we are surrounded by a farm bringing us the cornucopia of apples and pumpkins and fall goodies, but the color show is not as emphatic, the cold is less bitter, and the snow accumulation is much less severe.
Though my second to least favorite season (especially away from the South), autumn is the season that makes me the most reflective of my life, of my physical and spiritual journey, and of the power of multiple perspectives. These places that I have lived are each a touchstone for my spiritual and career journeys. I know more about myself because of where I have journeyed. I have discovered what has delighted me and frustrated me along the way. And I know so much about my world because of these experiences.
We are often asked in chit chat questions like, “where are you from?” or “What brought you to Cincinnati?” These are sometimes treated like frivolous and easy questions, but given a season of reflection these can be eye-opening, reality elucidating, spiritually rich questions. We will be launching our adult Spiritual Autobiography class in the New Year, so if you are interested in your own journey and the journey of others, please consider joining us.
Best,
Laci Lee Adams
November 2021.
