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To every thing there is a season

| October 13, 2021 1:00 AM

The days are shorter and it’s much darker and colder when the morning alarm rings these days. Leaves have begun to change color and fall. I’ve accepted the inevitable that the dog days of summer are just a memory. Autumn has always had a melancholy effect upon my mood, and moreso since the twelfth day of October in 2004 when my world shifted and changed forever.

The seventeen years that my father has been gone have blessedly been filled with more joy than sadness although we’ve experienced many family milestones in which his presence was missed mightily. There will never come a time that I don’t catch myself reaching for the phone to call to share something with my dad, a laugh or an indignation or a headshaking current event.

When I find myself missing him the most is when I’m the most grateful. Grateful to have been blessed with a father for 52 years of my life who loved me unconditionally and who made each of his five children absolutely certain that we were his favorite. What better gift than that could there be?


Leaves aren’t the only things falling from the trees. In Rathdrum, Kandi Johnson’s giant black walnut tree began dropping nut pods the past few days, helped along by windy weather. As she gathered the nuts she realized some protective gear was needed for her head.

“You never know when one will hit you on the head, and they hurt!” she observed.

A bicycle helmet and a bucket and she was all set for the harvest.


“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance...” Ecclesiastes.


Happy birthday today to Jeff Johnson, Margaret Eddings, Derek Scharf, Serena Pratt, Kathy Pierce and Judy Bennett and tomorrow to Randy Bohach, Leslie Lien, Jeff Elder, Dave Chambers, Karen Hammond, Linda Polley, Gary Ghramm and Suzanne Metzger. Cheers on Friday to Braxton Kurtz, Don Sausser, Dee Jameson, Shawn Gust, Beth Peters, Katie Smith, Wayne Hammond, Elizabeth McGregor, Laurie Dixon, Beth Myles, Greg Cossette, Dave Smith, Peyton Brown and Patty Cheesman. On Saturday Jordan Hudson, Misti Flood, Kathie Lyon, Pam Nygaard, Brad Perry and Mike Farquhar blow out the candles. Sunday Faith Tonna, Laurie Cook, Dana Albanese, Rosemary Fuller and Karen Deering will celebrate. October 18 birthdays belong to Arlene Pischner, Keith Erickson, Terry Gurno, Will Wolff, Kevin Clement, Kathy Reid and Lauri Armon. On Tuesday Dan Gookin, Tom Hamilton, Bobbi Koep, Louise Jackson, Linda Chapman and Holly Hall start another trip around the sun.


Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.