September already?

Can Fall be far behind? Unfortunately, in Miami that's usually a given. We rarely get any true 'fall' weather, though. Our seasons seem to be Spring, Summer, Hurricane, and OMG-it's-45F-outside-today!!!

I'm serious. :)

I used to love the beautiful fall days when we lived in Illinois a million years ago. It was a novelty to me, having grown up in Miami, walking through the crisp leaves and smelling smoke in the air and of course, actually wearing long-sleeved tops and not having a heat stroke.

Well, cool weather or not, fall brings the certainty of changes to my life. School is in session again and my baby is in her last year of Middle School. Next year it will be high school and all of the heartache that will bring to us, the parents. Our baby, our last baby, is a beautiful young woman now and I couldn't be more proud, but please? Can we slow it down just a tad?

The lazy summer evenings are giving way to busy-ness again as our church life kicks into high gear. Choir practice begins again this week (Christmas cantata anyone?), committee meetings are back on track, and tons of other places we absolutely have to be or face Dire Consequences™. (It helps if you say that in a deep voice and pretend there's an echo.)

So, we sit up straighter, dust off our Day Planners, set the alarms for an hour earlier and off we go.

Happy September. :)

Looking forward

It's 2009, can you believe it? It seems we were celebrating the turn of a new millennium just yesterday. We were reminiscing about that over dinner last night and laughing. Here in Miami it was what we consider freezing (never mind, all you Northerners!) and we went to a block party at a friend's home. There were way too many of us to cram inside, so there were chimineas placed strategically around the front lawn and we huddled gratefully around as we sipped champagne. Frankly, we just wanted it to be midnight already so that we could retreat to the warmth of our homes.

All five of us attended, my husband and I and our three children, because it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing; an historic event. Last night, in contrast, we were one child short as the oldest son was at his girlfriend's celebrating with her family. But that 'one-less' number was filled in by the presence of our younger son's new wife of one week and a day.

Change. We seem to be rolling in it here at our house. :)


What will this new year bring? We don't know, and don't want to know. That would spoil all the fun!