Shane and I left town for the weekend and came back to find that the leaves on our tree out back are rapidly changing from green to orange. Though the fall colors are beautiful, I can’t help but panic a little bit: is summer really over? Are the days of short-sleeved shirts and sunglasses already behind us? And what about all those summer trips we were supposed to take and those summer projects I was supposed to complete? I become discouraged when I think of all that I didn’t do… But then I look back on this blog and see all that I did do (camping, canoeing, test-taking, seeing Vancouver for the first time, planting, redecorating, visiting my best friend, sketching, bonding with my niece), and I feel encouraged and motivated to keep planning, keep doing, keep seeing. No, I didn’t finish that painting I wanted to get done, and no, we didn’t make it over to Eastern Washington for our wine-tasting weekend, but I have a whole new season ahead of me to continue working on that to-do list. There’s no sense in fighting the onset of autumn, so I suppose I may as well embrace it. Soon I will be making butternut squash soup, pulling those comfy sweaters out of the closet, putting the garden hose away as nature takes over our watering for us. Sometimes it’s all about looking for the silver lining (you might be hearing a different tune from me on our 97th straight day of drizzle, but for now, I am remaining positive and optimistic).
