Autumn has arrived!
Does it seem to you that it happens suddenly? Incrementally AND suddenly?
You get into your car and start to drive and all at once you're in the midst of vibrant ruby reds and deep orange bursts of color?
That's my experience every year and I always have the same Steve Jobs reaction:
"Wow,Wow,Wow!"
When Fall makes her appearance on the East Coast, there is no mistaking her.
She creates a Cinderella entrance and after living in Virginia for 33 years, her beauty still takes my breath away.
I wish she would stay longer..but like Cinderella she has a curfew. A set exit strategy and she seems in a bit of a hurry to leave!
In her rush, Cinderella left a shoe behind. Fall leaves the party half naked! And makes a mess while she's at it! Dropping her leaves everywhere like a woman trying to decide what to wear and before she knows it - the entire contents of her closet is scattered all over her bed.
Or so I've heard...
Then someone (hopefully one of the much younger people living in my home) will have to pick up after her.
Raking up whatever is leftover from her Haute Couture Fall Collection...
Then it's haste la vista, baby! Make room for Old Man Winter and his famous work of art titled: Whiteout.
He's a no frills kind-of guy and if he's not too grumpy he might let us keep our electricity..
Fall also graciously hosts my granddaughters birthday! You can clearly see how old she is:)
She learned this for her big day!
"How old are you, Penny?" And up pops her two bunny ear fingers..
"I'm two!"
Aw....I'm loving this season of life with grandchildren. We learn a lot from each other! Like a recent lesson learned with Penny in the grocery store. We we standing in line and she was very intently looking up at me and sort of flapping her mouth open and shut and performing an awkward chewing motion. It was a cross between a snapping turtle and a cow chewing cud.
It was bazaar looking and I was trying to figure out what the heck she was doing (and if I needed to call 911...) and then I realized she was mimicking me....chewing my gum.
I no longer chew gum...
Humbling lessons learned in a check out line from a (bunny fingers up!) two year old:)
When Aidan was a toddler he would tiptoe into my bedroom early in the morning and climb into bed and make the sign for "book" which meant he wanted me to tell him a story.
For some reason, Aidan liked to touch my face when I read. Over time he would touch a certain spot on my face with one finger.
I'd like to say it was a freckle.
Freckle is a cute word.
But alas, it is an age spot.
Not a very cute word.
It's about as cute as the word
"Incontinence"
So, I decided to call it my ..
"Not Freckle"
My Not Freckle is below my left eye, and there his finger would rest as I read or told a story.
I'm a cud chewing spotted cow..
You have no idea about these sorts of things until you have grandchildren!
For many reasons my Not Freckle holds sweet memories for me and if I had the chance to have it lasered off, I wouldn't take it.
I might for those other members of Not Freckles family who are definitely age spots and not cute at all. Squatters who have no permission to be on my personal property!
One of the precious things I love about my grandchildren are their laughs.
Honestly, if I could bottle them up I'd have some kind of miracle cure, for sure.
Maybe even the fountain of youth in a cream!
But I'd put it nowhere near my Not Freckle!
Not Freckle feels like Home.
"Children's children are a crown to the aged" ~ Proverbs 17: 6
Amen.
