Give Me Fall Forever

i love fall. 
i was born on the first day of spring and i love watching the world come alive after winter. i love the feeling when blooms are popping up everywhere and you feel like everything will be ok because the cold has ended. and i have much love for summer and its endless days in the sun and by the water and with friends.  i ache for summer to arrive so i can amp um vitamin D intake and breathe deeply and just slow down.  i can do summer very happily for many many months.  and i even like winter, the snow, the coziness, the snuggles and mittens and all that.  

however much i love those three seasons, i am always ready for them to transition into the next.  i am always ready for winter to end and for warmth to return to the world.  im always ready for spring to give way to the hot summer days. and i am always ready for a hot summer to cool off.  

but i am never ever ready for fall to be over.  its the season i could live in forever.  its the season where a cool crisp day with a clear sky can make me feel like literally anything is possible.  i was made to live in a virginia fall.  and here i am, living it right now.  

and my crew really seems to love it too.  the other day eden had two lovely friends over and the three of them played outside for over four hours, coming inside only for some cider and a cookie.  in my opinion, if you cant be perfectly content with a virginia fall afternoon, you just might never be.

 

 

eden and etta mae have a way of making me appreciate things, the most minute and minuscule things, in a way that only children can.  i think i have them to thank for the way i see the world so much of the time.  paying attention to details and imagining how it must seem to such little people.  the slow family walks till its so dark we have to use the lights on our phones to get home.  the hours spent romping in the wilds of the yard.  the million and a half pushes on the swing in the willow oak.  all of these make me even more aware of each passing day.

and fall makes me so acutely thankful for the way God created the world.  the way he made the trees change into such vibrant colors before losing their leaves.  i always like to think that He did not have to do it that way.  He could have made the leaves fall in their usual green.  He did design it all after all.  i like to think the leaves change just so we can see His creative power.  just so we can see his glory.  and so we can know that He loves to show us beautiful and good things.  that change can be beautiful.  and i love to watch the girls delight in these changes too.

i know that the winter chill will creep in and the holidays will come and speed us through the end of this season before i know it.  i know these beautiful days will only last so long. so im resolved to spend them outside, camera in hand, ready to remember everything i see and feel about my very favorite season, in this short season of life.