The leaves are turning, the air is cooler (well, not today, but it will be) and the last traces of summer are trailing behind us in a cloud of forgotten pool toys, abandoned flip-flops and late night conversations on a porch swing.
I have always loved summer, but I have always loved fall, more. There is something almost whimsical about a Western PA autumn. Having traveled through many U.S. states, the natural beauty of Pennsylvania in the cooler months of September and October are a sight to behold.
Fall also, not unlike the rest of the seasons, brings something that we are ALL probably craving right now: change.
When the world came to a screeching halt in March I can recall standing in my kitchen, looking at my husband and five children and saying out loud, “What do we do now?”
I feel as though I barely survived March and April, finishing the spring semester, assisting my young children with virtual learning, while my husband made a (very) futile attempt at getting his own work done in our basement.
But, as the weather became warmer and the traces of winter and spring faded into the distance, I began to feel something that I had not felt in months.
I felt hopeful.
My family and I had a great summer. My husband being home was a blessing to my children and myself. We swam in our little pool that we had so luckily obtained in 2018, before swimming pools were more rare than the canisters of Lysol Wipes. For the first time in our marriage we sat on our porch every single night when the kids went to bed and just talked. We became friends with neighbors of 10 years that we had rarely gotten to have meaningful conversations with before. We made future plans, laughed about our daily struggles and gave our goldendoodle the best summer of his life as he sat beside us on the porch and barked at literally every living thing that passed him.
For the first time, maybe ever in our adult lives, we had something we had never had an abundance of before: We had TIME.
So, as the summer months have gently guided us into fall, I am hopeful for what the next season of life will bring.
My children are back in school, something that seemed like a pipe dream until it actually happened. We have all remained healthy and somewhat sane and are looking forward to what this change of season will bring.
The year 2020 has been one that most of us will never forget, and of course it is not ALL good. But, I will tell you one thing, and I hope you can say this as well, very much good HAS come from bad and for the first time I have been able to experience the little things in life in a very big way.
I hope that everyone is having a good semester and able to relish in the positive changes that are happening around all of us.
I don’t know for sure what the future holds, but I do know that there will be goodness within it, only if I am willing to find it.
Happy Fall.
