Long Hollow

Our weather has been in a see-saw pattern the past few weeks. Beautiful, cool, autumn-like days swoop in, making everyone smile, and then suddenly summer is back, with highs in the 90's, sticky air, and sneaky mosquitoes. 

But at least we're getting the promise of autumn and a reprieve from the true summer days of triple digit temps. 

October has always been one of my favorite months, if not the top of my list altogether. The weather is awesome, which means there are tons of festivals. Probably too many, if that's possible. Everything gets planned for October.

And that's why I'm going a little crazy right now. The Keller Williams Food Drive is today, but I couldn't participate this year because today is also our church Oktoberfest, and I've been in charge of promoting it to be sure we get a great turnout.

But I can't even attend it this year because in a few hours I'll be heading to Houston to celebrate the 40th anniversary of my high school graduation, which I've also been organizing from afar. 

Would you believe we've lost 14 of those kids up there since our last reunion five years ago? It's heartbreaking. 

The homecoming football game was last night and they honored all of the past homecoming queens. I was a homecoming queen (1977!), but for the first time since we started having our reunions on homecoming weekend, I couldn't be at the game. 

For one thing, on Sunday I'm flying out with high school friends for a week in ITALY!  Oh my gosh, how totally SWEET!

The photo above is from my whirlwind budget/student Foreign Study League tour through Europe way back in 1976. I've been dreaming of returning  ever since, and finally riding in a Venetian gondola, which I neglected to do the last time.  

I'm also glad I get to see David again. All giggling aside, it is a magnificent piece of art and I can still remember the amazement I felt seeing it the first time. 

At the time we planned this trip,  it seemed so perfect to leave right after our reunion. 

Oh my gosh. We were sooooo wrong.

This past week has been tough, trying to be sure I was ready for the trip, that I had done all I could do to promote Oktoberfest, that everything for the reunion was done and I had done my best to let all of my classmates know about it, and that I had taken care of all of my clients.

Besides needing the extra day to prepare for my trip, I also skipped the game because yesterday was my "baby" boy's 29th birthday!

And it fell on a Friday the 13th, which made it even more special. That's a lucky day in our family. He didn't want a big celebration or gifts, so we celebrated with hamburgers and brownies, and he gets a discount on his rent this month. 

Time flies and birthday celebrations change, but I'm grateful for each and every one. I'm glad I stayed to celebrate with him. 

There have been so many other sweet! moments over the past few weeks… so many heart rocks, images of hearts friends have shared with me (one on a dog's nose and another on a cat's chest!), get-togethers with friends, new clients, contracts on listings, beautiful sunrises like the one at the top, and colorful autumn wildflowers lining our dirt road, like the False Foxglove below.

(TG looked up the name for me – another sweet!)

I hope your October is overflowing with sweet! moments, too. 

October is a hallelujah! reverberating in my body year-round….

~John Nichols (b.1940), The Last Beautiful Days of Autumn