Finally...

Patience has never been my strong suit. According to my mother, I came into the world with an agenda and the Type A personality to pursue it. I have long fantasized about how many more things I could mark off my never ending To Do list if not for those pesky hours of sleep. Alphabetizing the spice cabinet, making relish out of all the Granger County tomatoes I hoard all summer, and knocking out four novels a year instead of three… While much of the world pays tribute to the long, lazy days of summer, I’m getting all the stuff done I don’t have time to mark off the list during the months I spend shuttling my boys to school, ball games, and scout meetings. My life is a constant whirlwind and I like it that way!

However, there is something about the first cool days of autumn that always make me slow down and take notice. First of all, there’s SEC football. Who in their right mind can’t make time for that? There are bright, sunny afternoons sitting on the porch looking at the mountains, and wondering how many more crisp nights before they explode into breathtaking colors. There’s my favorite sweater I’ve had since college my Aunt Carol begs me to throw away every year. I wore that sweater helping my dad put up firewood, raking leaves in the yard of the first home I called my very own, and Trick-Or-Treating with my boys when they were still toddling. I am not throwing it away, I don’t care how ragged it gets! And there are the hours I spend in the kitchen making pots of the chili, beef stew, cornbread and apple pies that announce the season to my family. We spend a little more time sitting around the table and out on the porch, and I’m far less likely to worry about To Do lists and word counts for novels.

I know I should be better about it year round, but there is something about autumn that makes me more thankful for little things I take for granted the rest of the year, the times and traditions I want my sons to look back on and be as thankful for as I am. So today, I put on my ragged sweater and stirred up a big pot of chili because the game is on soon. That spice cabinet will still be there when I get around to it, but autumn in the mountains only lasts so long.