Autumn Leaves

It's HERE!!!!!! Yay! My favoritist time of the year! Is THAT a word??? WHO cares. It's MY blog! Yes - Fall is here and officially it will arrive at 3:09AM on Thursday. The kids are back in school. The days are a bit shorter but absolutely beautiful. The sky is bright blue - hence "sky" blue - the pregnant, white clouds hang like cotton balls and the air is warm but with that crisp quality that harbors NO HUMIDITY!
(What the HELL is that white DRIP!!!!)

I just love this whole time period from September through New Year's Day. January - April? Not so much! But September and October find me busy and high and happy and they usher in my favorite holidays starting with Halloween and ending with New Year's Eve.





My kids are also excited. Monday I found myself motivated to haul out those boxes of fall and Halloween "decorations" and I spent the afternoon cleaning and re-arranging to accommodate my "junk".

The kids were so excited when they returned home from school that day. But Michael was ecstatic! Actually, he has been craving Christmas for weeks. It's so funny because it's not the presents he is aching for as you would expect. He is craving the feeling that comes over us all starting on Thanksgiving week. He's very in tune to everyone being in an extra great mood during those four weeks (perhaps there is a lesson here?). He loves that we put together family Christmas oriented plans for each day of the weekend plus the baking and tree decorating, present buying and wrapping, the music and Christmas specials etc.



Ok how did I get on THAT subject? We're talking Fall here! Point being - he was so psyched to see the house "done up" because in his mind, it's the start of the holiday season! And his birthday week (October 14th is his birthday) really starts all the festivities.
This time of the year also brings with it a whole bunch of nostalgia. As I have expressed in previous blogs, September is my new year and I can't help but long for the "good ole days". Returning to college each year, falling in love for the first time in high school, the birth of my son, football!, moving to the beach into an academic rental one fall, leaf peeping and hiking in different chapters of my life...just so many great, aching memories.

I, personally, am indulging in long walks with Daisy and lazy afternoons in my hammock covered with comforters. I keep saying I'm getting to the beach one last time so a long walk in the sand is on the agenda and I'm planning to enjoy my runs a bit later in the day with the leaves falling around me as I cut through the crisp, cool fall air.

(Catch the Halloween kitty in the window above the hammock!)

Also - as you will recall, I have plans to enjoy every second of color that Mother Nature plans this year. I plan to soak it all in and catch the joy in the hopes of extending that joy across the rough spots that invariably creep in. Truly, it just doesn't get any better than this.

Best part? As Autumn "leaves", there are still weeks of joy to catch as we head to January 1. The key is to recognize the joy before it passes you by. Don't we all need to work on that? Don't miss it. Figure it out. It's there.