Let me tell you a little story about yesterday. Well, first let’s back up. In February, we got a new puppy, Sadie. She was part belated Christmas present, part Jon’s hunting dog, and wholly terrible at house training. Long story short, eventually we threw in the towel, agreeing she’d be better off a barn/garage dog. But just this week, I was starting to feel pretty bad about it. Maybe it had to do with the fact that we lost an entire litter of kittens last week or that I started reading “The Art of Racing in the Rain” and it’s told from the perspective of a dog. Or maybe it just really pulled at my heart strings when I would catch her sitting so nicely on the porch, with her sad yellow eyes, peeking in at us. No matter the reason, truth be told, I really wanted her to be an inside dog – if she’d just stop sh*tting on the floor! SO, back to yesterday. I decided to let her in for a bit just to test the waters. And my lap dog, Annabel, went batsh*t crazy. She started walking so oddly I seriously thought she was having a seizure. I took her outside and half expected her to just keel over and die. But miraculously, her symptoms disappeared as soon as I put Sadie away in her kennel. Take it from Annabel – change is hard.
However, we all know it’s an inevitable, necessary part of life. No one would truly grow without any change. Big, small, expected, sudden – change comes in all forms. The past few weeks, I don’t think I had a single conversation with another mom that didn’t include one of us mentioning how quickly summer has passed us by. There’s just something about those summers with your kids – they’re hard to let go. And it wasn’t just among the stay-at-home moms either. Working or not, summer is mostly filled with enjoying the outdoors and some much needed time away.
All these conversations got me thinking though. In another couple of months – we’ll have no idea what happened to the vibrant color, refreshing air, and cider donuts of the fall. Life gets away from us. Fall brings back to school and youth sports, and before you know it the holiday season is before us – and not just at Hobby Lobby.
As we reminisce the warm summer days and ponder how the weeks went by so quickly, we’re still enjoying the cooler day at the park. Still catching up with friends and sharing excitement at the school open house. We are present, enjoying today. Because we only have this day once. I’m going to do my best to embrace the change. The change of the season, the change of routine, the change of laundry. Find new ways to connect with my family. Maybe create a fall bucket list. Dust off my sweaters and slow down. Did we enjoy those summer days and are we sad to let them go? Absolutely. Do we long for the summer to linger just a little longer? Probably. Come November, will I sigh and wonder when the leaves changed color as they’re falling to the ground? Perhaps. And I’ll remind myself that I’m supposed to embrace the change. And the crippling cold. And the frozen snot. Ugh. I’m gonna need some time to work on that!
While changing seasons are both predictable and minor, relatively speaking, it’s also got me thinking of the changes that seem to happen right before our eyes. The slow burn of our kids growing older. Through the daily grind of dishes, laundry, homework, and activities, the days of helping wash hands and near constant chaos will seem to disappear overnight. As I write this, I find myself glancing at my kids up late on a Friday night, lounging watching a movie and playing with babies, and try to picture how much different life will be in 6 or 8 years - with a couple teenagers and kids who don’t fit all packed together on the same couch. Those days will be full of changes and new challenges, of that I’m sure. I can only hope my mommy heart will be strong enough to embrace the change then, too.
As for now, we will do our best to make the most of the change around us. Because it’s FALL y’all! And stay tuned for Sadie updates - we’ve been thrown a curve ball already!