Fall Harvest

It's official! Fall is here, and regardless of whether or not we get a few more days of hot weather here in Atlanta, I've decided that I'm jumping on board of the Autumn Express. I'm DONE with sweating and tank tops and popsicles for the year; bring on the pleasant strolls and knee-high boots and PSLs!

And, of course, bring on the changing leaves!

To celebrate today being the first official day of Fall, Emma Vance and I (and Oscar and Olive) decided to collect some colorful leaves for fun. (Okay, so maybe "colorful" isn't the most accurate word to describe today's leaf selection, but "brown" just sounds so...well, sad.) The good news is that having a toddler means you can get harebrained ideas and have someone gladly join you in your adventures without looking at you like you're a crazy person. (I figure we've got a solid decade or so before the eye rolling begins.) In fact, having a toddler not only means that you have a willing partner, but that you have an enthusiastic partner! As we traipsed outside this afternoon, there were giggles and excitement (and maybe an overly-ambitious attempt that ended up with a tumble down the deck stairs for one of us) and then squeals of delight as we filled our bowl with fallen leaves.

Such a simple task reminded me of the wonder we have at the start of our lives. Each leaf was a thing of beauty for my little lady as she examined each one carefully before adding it to our collection. I sat with her in the yard, looking over her shoulder at the leaves, full of little caterpillar bite marks, covered in color, formed in unique shapes, and thought to myself how she's mentally cataloging each one of these details with amazement. How many fallen leaves have I seen in my lifetime? Millions? But for her, today's leaves were the first--the only. They were fascinating and unusual and worthy of exploration. God is amazing and gives us so much to discover in this world, and I'm thankful that Emma Vance helped me remember that on this first day of Fall.

And, when our harvest was complete (topped with a piece of pine straw E.V. declared worthy of the bowl with a simple "Woooow!" as she added the anomaly to our collection), she dumped out the contents and started again. And again we filled the bowl. And again she dumped it out. And again we filled the bowl. It was a perfect way to ring in the new season--and for tomorrow? I'm thinking something pumpkin or apple or cinnamon...or all three. ;)