Fall
Even though it's still technically summer, and the summer we've had only barely got going, it seems like fall has arrived. This morning, parents were dropping their kids off at school, and small surges of nostalgia have laid tiny ambushes for me. The nostalgia is always how I know autumn has arrived. This morning, at the bakery where I get my coffee while I wait for the bus, I was ambushed by the aroma of bacon and eggs ... a smell I don't actually like (I've been put off by bacon since well before I went veggie), but it filled me with a longing for weekend mornings at my parents' house. What I remember most from those mornings is being woken up by the smell of food cooking and the sound of Garrison Keillor's voice. About half the time, Becky was there -- one of us in the bed and the other in a sleeping bag on the floor -- and my dad would decide we'd slept long enough and attempt to annoy us awake. His favorite methods included coming into my room with a plate of bacon and eating it on the end of my bed, or turning on my electric bass and trying to play it. I pretended to mind, but most of the time, I was happy to be woken up in time for breakfast.
I also was caught off guard by the smell of Farina, or something like that, in the kitchen at work. My dad loves hot cereal -- all different kinds. I like the occasion bowl of oatmeal on a cold morning, but he loved all sorts of hot cereals. He'd put maple syrup in them. I haven't smelled anything like Farina in years.
There was also a feeling in the air this morning. It was as if summer just finally gave up the struggle and said it was time to let fall in. As much as I love summer and have hoped it would come back (our summer lasted approximately from the last week of June to the third week of July this year), this homey nostalgia makes my heart want to make a little room for fall.
Before I do, though ... I think I ought to recap my summer. It has been a roller coaster. I have been to the highest peaks and the lowest dips this summer, and haven't had much time for anything in between.
On the high points:
- The best Bonnaroo ever
- The week of the Fourth of July
- Passing the PE and Finishing the S.T.P. in the same weekend
- Duck, Darren and Hannah, Bill, Charlotte and Preston, and my parents all came to visit us.
- Jacob & Amber's beautiful wedding
The low points -- the lowest points I've ever known -- have almost all been Riley related. I wrote about it here and here and here, but I still haven't been able to write down the story of that day, the nightmare of it that is still so crystal clear in my mind that it hurts to even think about it.
In between, there was the "camping trip" in Denver with both high and low points, and the Danskin Triathlon which was too close to losing Riley to think of without bitterness, and there have been some good books, and a whole lot of cleaning our apartment. There have been hikes and camping trips and swimming. I feel like I've spent the whole summer outside, covered in dirt, with a bandanna over my hair.
All in all, I can't say it was a bad summer. Part of me feels bad saying that because I'm still so wrecked from the decline and loss of my sweet boy, Riley, but there were good points. There were even good points with Riley. That he got to see his family this summer, I think was important. And it was good for me too. I wish I could move my genetic family and my adopted urban family to Seattle. I love it here, but I miss you guys so much. I wish you were closer.
This fall will be quiet, I think. I don't plan to do much traveling until the end of the year, and I'm looking forward to just living and being around here for a while. A little bit of home life, a little bit of nostalgia, will be good for this busy girl for a little while.
I also was caught off guard by the smell of Farina, or something like that, in the kitchen at work. My dad loves hot cereal -- all different kinds. I like the occasion bowl of oatmeal on a cold morning, but he loved all sorts of hot cereals. He'd put maple syrup in them. I haven't smelled anything like Farina in years.
There was also a feeling in the air this morning. It was as if summer just finally gave up the struggle and said it was time to let fall in. As much as I love summer and have hoped it would come back (our summer lasted approximately from the last week of June to the third week of July this year), this homey nostalgia makes my heart want to make a little room for fall.
Before I do, though ... I think I ought to recap my summer. It has been a roller coaster. I have been to the highest peaks and the lowest dips this summer, and haven't had much time for anything in between.
On the high points:
- The best Bonnaroo ever
- The week of the Fourth of July
- Passing the PE and Finishing the S.T.P. in the same weekend
- Duck, Darren and Hannah, Bill, Charlotte and Preston, and my parents all came to visit us.
- Jacob & Amber's beautiful wedding
The low points -- the lowest points I've ever known -- have almost all been Riley related. I wrote about it here and here and here, but I still haven't been able to write down the story of that day, the nightmare of it that is still so crystal clear in my mind that it hurts to even think about it.
In between, there was the "camping trip" in Denver with both high and low points, and the Danskin Triathlon which was too close to losing Riley to think of without bitterness, and there have been some good books, and a whole lot of cleaning our apartment. There have been hikes and camping trips and swimming. I feel like I've spent the whole summer outside, covered in dirt, with a bandanna over my hair.
All in all, I can't say it was a bad summer. Part of me feels bad saying that because I'm still so wrecked from the decline and loss of my sweet boy, Riley, but there were good points. There were even good points with Riley. That he got to see his family this summer, I think was important. And it was good for me too. I wish I could move my genetic family and my adopted urban family to Seattle. I love it here, but I miss you guys so much. I wish you were closer.
This fall will be quiet, I think. I don't plan to do much traveling until the end of the year, and I'm looking forward to just living and being around here for a while. A little bit of home life, a little bit of nostalgia, will be good for this busy girl for a little while.