Changing Seasons

Last Friday night, Adam Wainright threw a pitch caught by Yadier Molina. That pitch was the third strike of the third out of the ninth inning of the fourth World Series Game won by the St. Louis Cardinals The fans in Busch Stadium, the players on the field, and me alone in my living room erupted in championship cheering. But as much as I was happy that the Redbirds won the World Series - after the last few years of coming close and the agony of the last month of the season - I was also sad. The pitch that ended the inning, that ended the game, that ended the Series, ended the baseball season. Only four more months until Spring Training!
Last Saturday night I followed the prescribed rituals to observe one of my favorite days of the year - turning back the clocks an hour. Sunday morning's extra hour was especially welcome this year since I was still trying to recover from spending the previous weekend in the Pacific Time Zone. But the end of Daylight Savings Time is also a sure sign of the seasons changing from light to dark, from fall to winter.
Next Tuesday could (should!) mark another change of seasons, this one in the political climate. Will we feel the warming breezes of hope for the restoration of constitutional checks and balances essential for our democracy to thrive or will the chilling winds of one-party rule become increasingly destructive? When the last vote in the last race in the last precint is finally tallied, I'll settle for the gentle breezes produced by all those sighs of relief from those of us agonizing about the current state of our nation and the world.