Summer officially ended and fall, oh fall, is officially here. Our backyard, and our front one for that matter, look a little crisp around the edges.
I pulled all of my marigolds already. They got incredibly large, as usual, but they separated and started dying a little earlier than usual this year. Instead of planting some mums in their place, I feel like I might just buy some potted mums and set them in the middle of my flower garden. I feel like easy fall flowers might be the way to got his year.
Other things seem to be on their way out as well. My husband pulled out the remains of the garden the other evening, only a few still-green tomatoes hanging on to a vine.
I feel the tug to turn inward, to ready the house for the coming winter hibernation. I feel crisp and prickly myself. I want to carefully wrap my arms around my boys and pull them close, tuck them under my protective wing to hide them from the coming cold winds, the snow, the things winter brings. I want to start making our favorite comfort food meals, to keep us warm both inside and out.
But it’s still 80-some-odd degrees outside.
The kids ditched me after we went over math facts and spelling words, read enough to satisfy this week’s reading log, and talked through a difficult situation at school. I can hear them through my open office window, bouncing on the trampoline with their friends. Soon—too soon—all the children will tuck away inside, under their own mamas’ wings and laughter won’t float by on the breeze. Less knocks on the door, less, “Can they come out to play?”
Our time to hibernate will come. We’ll hunker down together with our board games and movies. For now, I’ll sit here and write or read while they happily play with the neighborhood children. I’ll put on my happy face at flag football practice, even as the sweat drips down my nose. We’ll eat our snack outside tonight, sitting with our toes in the crisp grass, because soon we will be looking out the windows at a whirlwind of white, missing the feel of warmth on our heads, crunchy grass on bare feet.
