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Fall is Upon Us

Sep 212009

Tomorrow is the first day of Fall. The leaves were already changing this past weekend as I drove along the Pennsylvania turnpike. The pictures I snapped this weekend at the wedding contained the blue of a September sky, unique to this month only. They also featured the beauty of potted mums. I love mums.

Everyone talks about how the Spring season brings us a chance at starting anew, about how Spring offers us a clean slate. We are to bloom once again after being dormant for however long. While I recognize the beauty of Spring, Fall offers us that same chance. Flowers that contain such beauty, such color and are still hardy, able to withstand harsh winds and the literal change of time, bloom during these early Fall days. Deep rich colors, colors that stick with you long after they’ve faded.

Mums in the Sun

White Mums

More Mums

I love the Fall. I love the sights and smells and changes the season brings. I love sweatshirts and jeans. I love jackets and boots. I love pumpkins and the color orange. (But not spices.) I love it all, I really do. I also love how it reminds me that beauty comes even after people stop expecting it. The newness of Spring has already come and gone. The long Summer days with their multitude of flowers have come to an end. And yet, beauty remains. Beauty always remains.

This year, Fall has brought about some extra changes in my life, in our collective life as a unique family unit. When I first learned of the changes, I felt uneasy. Change is not always an easy feeling, an easy thing to accept. I can now say, like the hardy mum, I am ready for wherever this new path on our journey takes us. I am happy to be experiencing it along with those that I love and trust. I am happy to be in the midst of this beautiful life, this beautiful mess. (You can read more about the changes, the beauty, here. Mums photographed above are just a sampling of the beauty from the wedding.)

Welcome, Fall. Shine your beauty upon us all.

Our Lives are Growing, Changing

Living Life 1 Response »

Jan 282008

I got all emotional yesterday. My best friend is having a baby at the end of March and yesterday was her baby shower. Perhaps I should back up. I didn’t just get emotional yesterday. I got emotional planning and buying her gifts. I got emotional in the card aisle as I tried to find one that conveyed what I was feeling… and failed. I got emotional as I wrote out her card and tried to say what I was feeling in my own words… and failed. I got emotional on the way to her shower. I got emotional when I saw her as I walked in, looking like the most beautiful pregnant woman I’ve ever seen. (Yes, folks, she even beats me on the Cute Pregnant Mama scale!) I got emotional as we made eye contact a few times. And when she opened my present? Pfft. Good thing I invested in good eyeliner recently. But my mascara was not waterproof. Figures.

I was sitting with another one of my close friends, someone else who stood as a bridesmaid at my wedding. (All three of us went to college together.) She brought her five month old son. LittleBrother didn’t interact much with her son but it was fun to see them next to one another. (BigBrother, not known for the ability to stay quiet or not help people unwrap presents, stayed home with FireDad.) As we discussed what gender we thought my Best Friend’s baby would be, I got emotional either way. Someone has to have a girl out of the three of us has to have a girl. Plus, then either LittleBrother or my friend’s son could marry this girl! (You know I’m all about the arranged marriage!) But how fun would it be for us all to have boys? I think she’s carrying high and that notoriously means a girl. That said, my pregnancy with BigBrother was carried very high. He’s very much a boy. Who knows.

Our Friendship Gets Noisier I look at this picture and I’m just overcome. We’ve been through a lot, together and separately, over the span of our friendships. None of us are the same people were were in 1999 or 2000. (Thank goodness!) We’ve grown. We’ve changed. We have celebrated our engagements and our weddings. We have mourned, comforted and consoled each other through various losses. We have entered the adult world and held jobs at various places, all choosing different professions with their own challenges. And now, with another baby about to join the picture, we’ve added to our families. We’ll continue to grow and change, of course, but I’d like to think that in another eight and a half years (since that’s when we all met), we’ll still be good friends. And maybe they’ll have more kids.