Waving in the wind
In layers of color, leaves
Shift and fall to earth

Today is a rather blustery day. The wind, cold from the north, swept in on the heels of yesterday’s rain. I turned on the heater for the first time this morning. The kids all willingly wore their jackets to school. I think it’s finally time to say that fall is here.

I’m enjoying the changing view outside the windows of this new house. When we moved in June, the view from our back windows was like that of a treehouse. The leaves on the trees between us and the lake were so thick during summer that we were able to see only a sliver of lake near the shoreline. Now, every day the leaves drop a little more, and the blue of the water seeps through a curtain of red and gold.

This time of year holds so many memories for me. For one thing, in 1997 and 1999, at this point in October I was tremendously, uncomfortably pregnant. When I went into the hospital LC on the 25^th and then Hannah on the 26^th, the leaves on the trees were in the early stages of changing – like now. When I exited a few days later, it seemed that they had undergone a huge shift and were ablaze with color.

So now, every year since then, the change in the leaves has meant birthdays were coming. And with Abby’s birthday in November, late October launches a busy season that doesn’t let up until New Year’s Day. Oddly, as lazy as I am, I love the busyness. Planning birthday parties and trick-or-treating, and looking ahead to Thanksgiving and Christmas, I feel swept along on a wave of celebration.

And today? Today holds ordinary tasks, like laundry and blog post editing. Nothing celebratory. But the colors and temperature give a hint of the party to come, and I find myself excited about the weeks to come.

The significance of autumn is originally posted at: The Red Clay Diaries - Rambling down the dirt road of life Copyright 2007-2011. Use only with permission. Follow me on Twitter. I'm redclaydiaries