Renewal in the Fall

I love this time of year!  Jeans, sweatshirts, falling yellow and orange leaves and football!  My absolute favorite things to wear are shorts and a sweatshirt.  It's like two seasons collide - awesome!  It's the time of year when the weather is finally cool enough that you don't need the air conditioning on, but it's not cold enough for the heat either.  Snuggling under the covers with a good book seems like the best idea you've ever had!  It's the time of year I try to find reasons to be outside.  The ucky bugs that I don't like are disappearing and the leaves are crunching under my feet - plus it's like the world around me has been repainted.  The various shades of green start to fade while the yellows, oranges and reds get more and more vibrant every day.  Football starts (which I love) and for the first time in years, I feel like I actually have a bit of time to enjoy watching it. 

Of course, Mother Nature and the NFL aren't the only reasons I love the fall.  It always feels like the perfect time to get a fresh start.  Many people feel that way at the beginning of the year (and I feel it then too), and of course in the springtime, but for me - it's the fall.  Maybe it's because when I was growing up, I loved school so much.  With the "beginning of the year" always being in September, it always felt like the possibilities were endless.  A new teacher, new friends, new things to learn - it was always exciting and fun.  I loved shopping for new school clothes and even new school supplies.  New, new, new!  Everything seemed new - or at least different.  Even the friends that I kept year to year had grown and changed somehow over the summer.  Loving school as I did - I always felt it was my time to thrive.  You know, before the dullness set in.  Before the work got hard, before the cliques were in place, before you were fighting with your boyfriend - when you were just looking for a boyfriend and you still knew it all.  Fun, fun, fun.

I know not everyone felt that way about school, but I did - then.

As a mom of a kindergartener and a second grader, I now feel much more overwhelmed.  There is soooo much paperwork.  And homework.  And activities (ok - I did that one to myself, but still).  I do NOT remember this much homework in the second grade.  I do NOT remember the girls being this catty at this age.  I'm sure I didn't learn to read in kindergarten.  It's week four and I've already lost my daughter's homework twice - you read that right - me!  Obviously, I'm not meant to be a second grader again! 

Having said all that - I still love the fall.  And yes, I still feel like it's a time to get a fresh start.  (I obviously need a new system for homework!)  I'm still - as always - working on making my office more functional.  I'm working on perfecting my scheduling - wanting to get as much done as I can while still managing to be "fun mommy" sometimes, not wanting to completely neglect my family or friends in the process.  I don't have everything in place, but therein lies the beauty of fall.  Where many people may be looking at their lives wondering where the year went and what on Earth they did manage to accomplish - I look at my life and think: I still have more than three months to finish up my goals for the year.  It's time to start fresh, so if there's something I've totally missed, now is the time!!!

I guess I have to add that to the reasons I love fall - hope.  I never look at it like everything's dying.  It always seems like time to start anew.  With my Happiness Project firmly in place, my schedule being a work in progress and a large group of friends to support me along the way - I think I'm doing ok.  Better than ok - I've climbed two mountains this year - what's better than that???  I'll tell you what's better - the fact that there are still even more possibilities!  And since it's the "beginning of the year" - I'm just getting started!