A New Season

I've sat down to write a post about five different times over the past few weeks, and each time I close out of the screen feeling less than inspired.  Despite feeling renewed by the adequate amounts of sleep I'm getting on day shift now and the ever so slight changes in the temperatures outside, I haven't wanted to write much of anything lately.  Sometimes when I write, I stop because I feel like I'm writing nothing of substance, like my words are just like what everyone else is saying on their own little space on the internet.

But today I woke up and brewed a pot of coffee, and I pulled out a little of this and that to throw together pumpkin spice french toast, and the pumpkin brought me back to where I live in the fall.  I live in cookbooks and recipes oozing with pumpkin, apples, cinnamon.  I live in pashmina scarves and knee high boots.  I run by little houses downtown decorated with pumpkins and crunchy leaves on the porch, with candles burning inside.  My crockpots (all three of them) are bubbling with homemade apple cider or a fresh batch of chili.  I rotate burning the candles in our our home with Warm Apple Pie scents or Mulled Cider.  And I relish in breathing in autumn air, chilling and crisp and refreshing all at the same time.  Autumn is my most creative season, and I don't see that changing any time soon.  I thrive in the fall, whether it's from cooler weather or the slower pace of life that seems to come with the season.  Something about it rekindles all of the words I've been missing for months, it brings forth a newness in my spirit.

I'm used to battling the lovers of summer on this one, and I know that for someone who claims to not wish moments away, it sure seems like I'm wishing away entire seasons.  But summers are different these days, without Wrightsville Beach sand between my toes and runs at the Loop.  I'm missing Trolley Stop hot dogs and the smell of Ocean Potion sunscreen, the taste of salt on my lips after swimming in the ocean.  I've missed my North Carolina summers, and so far, Indiana hasn't shown me a nice, hot summer.  And who knows? Maybe we have had that sort of summer, and perhaps I missed it while working night shift or studying for classes at school.  But any way I look at it, I'm ready for fall.  I won't wish summer away for those who love it so dearly, but I'll wait with hands folded for my favorite season to lure me in again.

This fall, I'm wishing that we'll move into a home of our own in Indy; I'm dreaming of coming back from the pumpkin patch with armfuls of pumpkins to sprinkle around our front porch.  I'm smelling an entire house filled with the scents of my fall candles as that crisp, fall air seeps in through the open windows.  I'm imagining the neighborhood kids playing in the street outside as I pull into the driveway from apple picking again, racing inside to stir the cider in the crockpot one last time.  I'm hearing the sound of a dog barking in the yard, waiting for us to let them inside to snuggle up on the couch and keep me warm while the fire crackles in the fireplace ahead.

All things that I am patiently waiting for. All things that I'm grateful to be able to enjoy on this side of eternity.  All things that come with a new season.

Hope your weekend is beautiful and that you spend it outside as much as you can, friends, enjoying whatever season you declare it to be.

Lots of love,
C