“To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.”

—Mary Oliver

WHAT’S GOOD

We’re Hiring: Baristas Who Brew with Heart

Do you love great coffee and even better conversations? One Another Coffee is looking for part-time baristas to join our team located at our Sunset Ridge campus across from Charis Park (all profits from One Another support the park!).

We’re a neighborhood coffee trailer built on warmth, connection, and care—both in the way we brew and the way we welcome people in. Whether you’re pulling espresso shots or greeting someone by name, your presence helps make this place feel like home.

If you’re friendly, dependable, and have a heart for community, we’d love to hear from you.

Please email your resume and cover letter to hello@oneanothercoffee.com.

The Quiet Work of Letting Go

Jess Lowry, Executive Director, Sunset Ridge Collective

Fall. It’s always been my favorite.
As a northeastern girl, it’s the season I miss the most. I spent time up north last week to lead a workshop at Princeton, and I was reminded that fall for me is not only about the hot apple cider, warm cider donuts, and the smell and crackle of leaves beneath my feet. It’s about how the natural world reminds me of the seasonal invitation to release.

In nature, fall is not just a change in color — it’s a shift in rhythm. As daylight shortens and temperatures cool, trees begin a process called abscission, forming a thin layer at the base of each leaf stem. This layer slowly severs the connection, allowing the leaf to fall away. It’s how the tree conserves energy and protects itself through the coming winter. What seems like loss is actually strategy — a deliberate act of preservation and preparation.

During this season animals are storing food, plants are drawing nutrients back into their roots, and the earth itself seems to take a deep breath before winter’s rest. Everything in nature is quietly rebalancing — conserving what’s essential, letting go of what’s not.

In the pace of early fall — the start of the school year, the build-up to the holidays, the return of routines — it’s easy for us to move in the opposite direction. We accumulate tasks, expectations, and noise. But the natural world keeps reminding us: not everything needs to be carried forward.

Maybe this is the season to notice what’s ready to fall.

To name what no longer serves us or our communities.

To trust that letting something go isn’t a loss, but a way of making room for what’s next.

The apple tree doesn’t grieve the fallen fruit. The forest doesn’t resist the falling leaves. Each trusts the wisdom of the cycle — that decay, rest, and renewal all belong together.

So perhaps this fall, we might follow their lead.
Because fall, in all her color and calm, reminds us that what falls away still feeds the future.

I invite you to join me in a bit of fall reflection this week. What do you need to let go of to move through this season with more ease? What tasks, expectations, or habits have run their course and are ready to return to the ground? Take a walk, notice the trees, and let their quiet wisdom remind you that release is part of the natural rhythm. As we make space by setting things down, we create room for what’s next to take root.

Love,

Jess