This weekend we were sitting down to watch a family movie when a preview came on that got the children VERY excited. Lizzie said, “That would be the PERFECT movie for us, it has horses, it has explosions…” Grant chimed in, “Does it have Abraham Lincoln in it?”
No, we don’t ask for much do we?
Today we had the most wonderful new member social at our house. There was a great turnout and the weather was delightful, an overcast dramatic sky that really brought out the vivid fall colors on the trees. It was fun to get to know the new members of our ward. I am so thankful for the Alpine First Ward. There are such solid, devoted, inspiring members who are willing to help and serve in any way they can. I love the diversity of talents and personalities you find here. Sure there may not be much of the diversity of cultures, religions, and skin colors that I enjoyed so much in the D.C. area. I feel that the diversity here (a small town in Utah County) is so much more subtle and so worth seeking out. Recently, I was sitting next to an elderly woman in our weekday Relief Society meeting. I have been in the same ward with this woman for more than seven years and this night I asked about her family and her interests, what she likes to do in her spare time. I learned that she is quite active! She is on a bowling team, she golfs, and most interestingly she is on a dance team of senior ladies that perform in half time shows and in other venues! I would never guess any of that about her by just looking at her. There are people around me everywhere that have so much good and so much passion just waiting to be discovered. How can life ever be dull? (Actually, sometimes I long for life to be a little dull – it is so fast paced, when was the last time I actually felt bored?) I have so much to learn from these people. We all have such individual life experiences and trials. I am just glad in the event that my individual trials get too burdensome, I not only have a Heavenly Father who will sustain me, a wonderful family to support me, but also an amazing ward family to help me through whatever the Lord sees fit to send me.
Now Fall…
I have never been a lover of Fall, I have always felt that it was a season sandwiched between two exciting seasons and too far from the best season of all…SPRING! I usually feel a real sense of loss when the first frost hits around the first week of October killing all our tomato and basil plants. I dislike the shortening days, the early darkness. I have never enjoyed putting our garden to bed for the winter. It lacks the same raw excitement of spring planting and planning. In the Falls of the past there seemed to be no mystery, no new growth, no expectancy of wonderful things to come like I feel in the spring as leaves bud out, blossoms burst and seedlings take root and present their small offering to the miracle of creation. (No wonder so much poetry is written about spring. If I could write poetry I would write some myself!)
This year I did feel some of those same feelings of loss and sorrow. It was such a wonderful summer. I had a hard time getting back into the grind of school, lessons, carpooling (I have four different carpools: one for morning and afternoon school pickup, one for kindergarten pickup, one for William’s music class, and one for Lizzie’s Dance), homework, bedtimes…I wasn’t quite ready for the structure either. And darn it, I missed my after dinner bike ride that I can no longer do because it is getting dark by that time!
However, this fall has been so stunning I can’t help but admire it. I am taken by surprise by how much I am enjoying it. So shocked am I by this that I have taken to asking people, children and adults what their favorite season is. I would say 80% of the answers have been…FALL! As I have been enjoying the colors, surprises, yes, even the mystery of this season (will it be cold or warm today??), and the anticipation of more color to come I realized something about myself, I don’t really like a good thing to come to an end, even if it makes room for other good things. When our trees were at their peak color I had to remind myself that there is no loss to the dulling of color and the falling of the leaves. (Indeed the children have taken to shaking the limbs with rakes to hasten the dropping of those leaves) I had to fight the urge to want to hold on impossibly to these golden days of Fall. Now, all those leaves that were there just one week ago when this picture was taken, are withered and fallen and the trees are nearly bare. And our aspens? Beautiful and bright yellow now, and enjoying their chance to be in the spotlight. I have decided that from now on Fall will be my favorite season…right along side Spring, Summer and Winter. I will try to enjoy life now and not look back nostalgically to past seasons or long for future ones.
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