Power of Little Words

Paradise is many things: warm sun shining down, crystal blue waters with really cool fish, waving palm trees standing like huge sentinels to the ocean, and a taste of fresh pineapple or coconut just ready to be eaten. What it isn't is a predictor of what season the rest of the world is in.

After a brisk walk around Ford Island today, I headed back to my life organizer: my calendar. Not a day goes by that I can't stop in front of it and marvel at how my days can go from empty to jam packed in a matter of hours. For the past few days I've felt a little off kilter. I chalked it up to HH being on night watch again and crazy behavior for HS at school, and a little girl who seems to be growing faster than I remember HS ever going. So, I decided that maybe my calendar would help me understand. Well, today's agenda is no different than it should be...I exercised during the time I wrote and I've got the laundry washing away and ready to be folded and used again. What was different, and what did get me to pause and say, "oooohhhh...that's why I feel this way," was the little message written in fine print: First day of Autumn.

Now on the mainland you are probably laughing. You are probably like me and pay no attention to the fine print. I spent the majority of my life (minus those first years of my life spent in Panama) not needing a reminder. I always thought it was pretty hysterical that calendar people spent the ink on sharing those little bits of tidbit that noone really needed since the clues were all around. The air was getting crisp, apple everything was being pumped at stores and on cooking shows, and fall festivals with all of nature's bounty were popping into the daily section of the weekend newspaper. New birds came in as other flocks fled to warmer climates. There seemed to be little need for a written reminder that said, "hey, wake up. It's AUTUMN!"

Well, I've got to say, I stood and stared at those little words today. I teared up. I sighed. I flashed to last Fall when I made HH drive me all around New England even though I was huge and pregnant, just because I wanted to savor all of my favorite season. I remembered conversations with people when they found out we had the orders to paradise and the facial expressions that greeted me as I shared that yes, paradise would be fantastic, but I would miss the seasons...especially Fall. After standing in silence with my cawfee growing cold, I'm not ashamed to write that I...cried.

Yes, I'm living in "paradise" but oh how I wouldn't give anything to have the air turn crisp, smell cinnamon and think that any day the leaves would be turning into brilliant hues of crimson red and flaming orange. Enjoy seeing the sunset change and paint the sky in another set of God's handiwork reserved just for this season. Put up the scarecrow in the yard and surround it with little pumpkins that we've gathered from the local pumpkin patch just to enjoy the squeals of delight from HS that his mommy put superman shirt on the scarecrow and every other one just had plaid. Rake the leaves into a pile just to have them scattered by the jumping of the kids into the pile. Slow cook a big pot of chili for enjoying during a Patriots game. Sip cider on the porch after an outing to the park with rosy cheeks and light jackets and looking forward to HH coming home to light a fire in the fireplace that would cackle and hackle and send warmth and comfort with each flicker of the fire (these were the days of not needing the fire to warm us, just to inspire us its glow and invited cozing up as a family on the sofa).

All these things and more pop into my mind when I see on the calendar that it is the 1st day of Autumn. I needed reminding this year. I'll need those fine words for the next three years. Once our tour here is done, those fine print little tidbits will never be taken for granted again. I'm a seasonal kind of gal and welcoming each new season and sharing in the joys that go along with that are priceless. Happy Fall Y'All!