A Short Season to Savor




As I finally breathe in the crisp air, the mums are planted, and college football echoes throughout the house on the weekend, I rejoice in Autumn.  Because summer lingers so long and Christmas starts immediately after Thanksgiving, really this is the shortest season, yet my favorite. 

IMG_0364.jpg picture by batesking04

I want to savor every moment.  I love the colors, the decorations, the smell of the air, the cool, long runs BJ and I are taking as we train for his first half marathon, planning for Anna Cate and Molly's Halloween memories to be made, the flavor of pumpkin. The list goes on.  
IMG_0330-1.jpg

BJ used to attend all of the home Virginia Tech football games, but his heart is so consumed with family, that he genuinely seems just as happy to grill out and plan a little tailgate here as we watch the games as a family.  Knowing how much that guy loves his alma mater and college football means this is love. 

IMG_0366.jpg
Love for his girls...and for his Big Green Egg....

IMG_0367.jpg

Another ritual for our young family is the Pumpkin Patch. We went last Saturday. It is concentrated fun for a little girl,
IMG_0421.jpgIMG_0433.jpgIMG_0439.jpg
IMG_0431.jpg
IMG_0425.jpg
IMG_0417.jpg

 joy for parents when giggles, squeals and smiles make us feel like we are doing a good job for that particular window of time,

IMG_0463.jpg
IMG_0399.jpg
and contentment for a baby in Mama's sling.
IMG_0407.jpg
IMG_0396.jpg picture by batesking04



 With my camera in hand and this newfound awareness that consistent writing provides me, it occurs to me that the metaphors to life abound.  The most cherished season is short, like Fall and our children's youth.  Realizing this ripens my mind and heart to soak it up.  As I mentioned here, I learned from my Dad the value in having friends in all stages of life.

 So many girlfriends older than I have told me that their favorite time of life is when their children were young.  Unlike when people told me high school would be the best years of life, I believe it.  This is a good season, just like Fall.  I gotta soak it up, breath the crisp air, not worry about the next season, be it Christmas shopping or attitudes of adolescence, but focus on the present, the joy for this journey.   Along with the exhaustion and a tad of self-neglect, I get to wake up to these precious faces every day:
IMG_0477.jpg
   I could try to draw meaning from the thoughts on the metaphors of life at the pumpkin patch I had listening to kids giggle down the haystack slide, or watching Anna Cate marking a path with her Daddy on the sorghum maze, or smiling at the joy for the journey with good friends like these children who are embarking on a third generation of friendship together
IMG_0475.jpg
but this season leaves me needing this, too...
IMG_0485.jpg

"O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou may'st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe;
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruit and flowers.
-  William Blake, To Autumn, 1783

 

Comments

Patti said…
Your girls are just beautiful. And that food on the grill looks scrumptious!!
Whitney said…
You have such a way with words Sarah. I love the connection I feel to you through your blog. Your kids are beautiful and I know they feel the love you and BJ provide them each moment.