Fall

Your favorite season has arrived again; second time around without you here with us…. The oak leaves are gently dropping all around me as I sit amongst them and enjoy all of our hard work over the years in the back yard. You were always a willing participant (to an extent) to go along with all my ideas. And dang do I miss your engineering ingenuity and muscle! The DIY improvement projects have come to a screeching halt and there has been a shift of plans, which I’m sure you’re observing from your heavenly vantage point!

I’m lost in thought as I sit and gaze out on the burning bushes turning blazing red - and I have to laugh at how you thought they were just too big! Literally, they have blocked the sunlight from everything planted behind them. Your favorite Pele mums are popping back out - as if they are looking for your admiring glance. The roses are doing their thing one more time before their winter sleep.

I never really knew what I was doing out here in the yard. I grew up with parents that spent countless hours beautifying their property, so it just seemed like the thing to do. And I’ve done it with your help at every house we owned over the 32 years I had you with me here. But it all looks pretty amazing if I say so myself out here! I love looking at the flagstones you let me talk you into hauling back here and making the beautiful path that leads to the patio.

We did good, even out here babe - thank you for always going along with my project craziness! And now as I get our precious home ready to pass on to the next owner, I’m grateful for all of your “OCD-ness”… with all the improvements made to this place.

I’m grateful for being able to breathe finally, to enjoy the colors of the season once again and of course your birds who now feast on Pike’s premium blend of bird seed daily… only the best for them!

I’m grateful that I’ve got last year behind me finally. I fell into the grave with you September 25, 2022 and have been crawling out since. And many days it’s been a belly crawl, barely making progress. But God is making beauty for me out of these ashes.

I’m clinging, for the moment to the beauty out here and looking forward to my next scenic view, wherever God is leading. Make sure you’re buckled up babe, cause I don’t want you to miss a second of my next chapter!

“To appoint unto them that mourn, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…that the Lord might be glorified” (Isaiah 61:3).