Harvesting Life This Autumn

The days have been so good to me the past two weeks! How extraordinary to once again fold piles of warm laundry and cook hearty meals for my family. What a gift to be able to carry my little Squeak around and wrestle with my sweet Monkey! The pain sneaks in, quietly while I prepare dinner, but I tell it to hush and wait while I delight in the time I'm sharing with my family, no longer on the sidelines. It pokes and waits, but I growl at it and shoo it to the corner to wait, just wait, till I get the babies to bed, and it does. It hunches in the corner, red eyed and growling back, but it waits for me to lie down and accept it's gnawing, which I do with a heart filled with the satisfaction of having been with my family and once again living life. My Superhero lights the candles around the rooms, turns on some sweet music and delivers to me some special treat; a foot rub with some hot cocoa, some honeyed herbal tea and a thick novel, some velvety rich sweetness that is Chocolove with my laptop... Mmm, yes, we are in the business of Living. Of truly living each day.

Autumn is in full swing here. The green grass is full of leaves that crunch underfoot, the temperatures have dropped leaving the air feeling moist and brisk and finding a little warmth in the sun is purely divine, and the pecan harvest at our house is inexhaustible. We have three pecan trees and with little effort have already bagged nearly 8 gallons of pecans. Last night, after yesterday morning's storm, we all went out after dinner and padded, barefoot, through the lawn looking for fresh pecans. Squeak was all snuggly in her fleece sling on Daddy's chest, enjoying the up and down ride of bending and standing with each find. I was toasty in my layers of thermals and hooded sweatshirt, with one sock off for pawing and one on to keep as warm as I could, alternately sipping and breathing the sweet warmness of my Redbush tea with vanilla.
Of course my silly little Monkey was bounding around in shorts and boots singing, "I like the cold, even the snow!" stopping only to give the grass a trim with his safety scissors so we "Won't have to pay the lawn guy anymore, Mama!"
We managed to collect about two and a half gallons on pecans before the sun had set so far below the horizon that we could no longer see the pecans we were feeling.
Oh Autumn! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach...