Autumn Rhythms

We are a month back from our trip, and I feel like our autumn schedule is finally becoming routine. With dance and swim team each four times a week, voice lessons, piano lessons, three weekly online classes, meetings for the library’s teen advisory board, weekly physical therapy and school, it’s taken us a bit to fall into a rhythm.

The calendar in my phone looks like a crazy quilt, with all sorts of overlapping blue and green and red squares.  What’s helping is a sit-down each weekend to plan the next week on paper.

There are little pockets of autumn beauty in the week as well.  My porch is exactly the right temperature (and quiet!) for a quiet time between our read-aloud hour and lunch.  The roses are blooming like nobody’s business, and our burning bushes are finally burning.  Sam added two trees to our postage-stamp of a yard: one redbud and one apple.

I’m learning to make a short walk through the garden part of my autumn rhythm. Smell the roses. Admire the chrysanthemums. Thank the chickens and the peach tree for the bounty they gave us this summer.

I am learning to make gratitude and marvel parts of my fall rhythm. I just wish it hadn’t taken me so long.