Autumn Color

Last week we loaded up the van with fishing supplies and s'mores.  We headed an hour north to a little lake off the beaten path.  Unfortunately so did everyone else. :)  While the lake may have been packed we had the chance to do a little creek fishing and playing in the rain.  Well everyone else did, I of course spent time tromping through the mud, wet grasses and trees to take pictures of the late summer flowers and mushrooms.  The thing that I noticed was how early we have fall color this year.  It was everywhere I turned.  As I always do, I found myself breathing in the smell of autumn.  There is something in the air come fall that wakes me up.  I know I mention this every autumn, but seriously, autumn is perfection contained in a season.



Every year I find myself slowing down, relaxing more, and breathing.  The other day I took our dog out as the sun was coming up.  I stood there, shivering a little, and watching the colors swirl in the sky, purple, orange, grey, and blue and everything just felt right.  Autumn always brings out (or rather brings out more) the introspective part me.  As of late, the main thing I've thought about is how just absolutely perfect life has been lately.  Perhaps it's because for the first time in years I don't feel like committing a felony, or disappearing on a very long drive, or any other dramatic sort of stunt (let's face it, mothering is tough and exhausting work).  For the first time in years my house feels somewhat organized and calm, we finally have gotten the hang of learning as a family, and I feel like I have a little bit of time for myself.



Yesterday I had the privilege of being present at the birth of a friends baby as an unofficial doula of sorts.  Start to finish it was just over 2 hours.  The only person in attendance other than the couple was myself.  There were no doctors, midwives, machinery, anything.  It was us, low lighting, and the sound of running water.  Holding my friends hand while she had that baby was a great honor, to see the first breath of life into that small baby was miraculous.  The world seemed to pause for those last contractions and there was nothing else that mattered.  It was like a giant deep breath and when those first cries happened it was like a rush of life back into the room.

Autumn feels like that to me, a giant deep breath and a rush of life.  Autumn is about rest and regrouping, rethinking and realigning.  Autumn is about life for me.

Linked to Homestead Barn Hop