Laughter and Pain This "Autumn in New York"

"Autumn in New York"

is one of my favorite songs about the city I was born in. For the past dozen years, it's also been the place I've taught and been an online tutor. Who can resist Frank Sinatra crooning, "Why does it seem so inviting?"  This year, though, it's Billie Holiday's rendition of the lines, "Autumn in New York / Is often mingled with pain," that's been on my mind.

Photo by Kai Pilger on Unsplash

Schoolbus to STRESS

I'm probably not the only one who almost cried upon seeing my first school bus of the year.  A once raucous before- and after-school site of joking, teasing, and screaming, the orange-yellow harbinger of fall whisked away tiny, silent kids, masked up, looking like so many lifeless dolls, off to the Land That Fun Forgot.

The teens that I work with as an online tutor on college essays and prep for SAT, ACT, and SHSAT, have also reported that school's more stressful now that there's less social interaction with their peers.  I lend a compassionate ear, but regret that I can't do much more than listen.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash. Edited by Dr. P. on Canva.

Signs of Hope

This morning's walk, however, had me singing a different tune. After passing behind Riverdale Country Day School's impressive outdoor campus, I heard laughter. As I hiked closer, I saw a group  of about eight elementary school children playing tag. Despite their masks, they yelled, ran up the hill, and appeared to be having FUN.  Just like the old days, the days before COVID, when kids ran around in the soft sunlight being kids.  

As my eyes welled up with tears -- this time, tears of hope -- I hummed the last lines of Vernon Duke's classic, "Greet Autumn in New York; / It's good to live it again."

Do you have any signs of hope this autumn, wherever you are? Share them with the Crimson Coaching Community on Facebook or in the chat below.