Autumn, At Last!

Mother Nature gave us our first glimpse of fall this weekend. It was so refreshing to walk outside to a crisp, cool morning. Our meter is loving that the AC is not constantly running, although, last night, it was eerily quiet in the house. The cars are getting better gas mileage. There is a general sigh of relief from all the things on which summer puts a lot of demand. We can go for a walk and not come home dripping with sweat. (Of course, on some subconscious level, this makes me feel like I haven't gotten as good of a workout, but whatever!) I love fall. I always forget how much I love it until, each year, we have that one day or, in this case, that one weekend, that awakens my senses and brings all of the good things about the change of seasons careening back to me. Maybe it was the fact that it was a weekend, or maybe it was the light of the full moon and the super high tides, or maybe, just maybe, it was the fact that we got to spend a good bit of this weekend at Sullivan's, in Meggett, and at Edisto - some of my favorite places. It is impossible to pin down, but if you ask me, a big part of what made this weekend and this time of year so wonderful is that I finally get to pull out all of those cute overalls I bought for Reeves at the end of the season last year - when he was still a little bundle, and we had to wrap him in blankets and hold him tight when we went outside. And here he is, a toddler, and I'm watching him run around and explore and do all those things that we always knew he would do, but couldn't imagine as we held our infant last fall.

Like the seasons, we are in that special time of watching him change. He is, in many ways, still a baby (pacifier, warm milk at bedtime, footie pajamas), but he is also so much more than his 16 months should allow. He runs, he climbs, he understands. He is still a snuggle bunny at times, but if you look closely, you can see the boy he will become. Like this tender time between summer and fall, our little ones are growing and changing everyday.

"...But for now, Autumn and Summer hold hands and twirl lightly, dancing and singing sorrowful swan songs."