Autumn Blessings

  • by Trish Berg
  • October 23, 2013
  • 404
                        
Struggling with loads of laundry, clutter in the kitchen and chaos in your life? Stress can easily steal our joy. Trish Berg reminds us to simplify the small stuff and find Joy in the Journey. Autumn is hands down my favorite season of all. I love the cool breezes, pulling out my turtlenecks and sweaters to wear and making popcorn on the stovetop and hot cocoa with marshmallows. In the fall, I love making Chex Mix and homemade granola, decorating our home with pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns and autumn colors. Autumn brings out the best in me. The changing colors and early sunsets make for shorter days and enjoying a longer night’s sleep. Not that I get to sleep in, mind you. I just want to sleep in more. One cold November, about ten years back, I decided to take the kids on a hike in the woods. I know, I know, that is way out for character for me. But the autumn breezes were calling my name and Mike was grading papers (a never ending job for teachers). So out we went into the great unknown. The kids were eight, six, four and one, all young and toddling behind me as we went. It was actually a gorgeous day, until, that is, I decided to take a shortcut. You see, the breezes were so cold, the kids started to complain. Their noses were red, their hands were numb and their fall jackets were not keeping them warm enough. What had appeared to be a beautiful fall day from inside of the house had turned into a cold November day once we were outside. So back to the shortcut. We were on top of the hill near where Mike’s parent’s live, and I could see our farmhouse down the hill. The shortest path home was directly through the pasture. Sounded good to me, with three crying walkers and one baby on my hip. So we headed down. Hannah veered a little too far to the left and that’s when her boot sank deep into a mixture of manure, mud and water. She pulled her foot out quickly leaving the boot buried, lost her balance and stepped to place her sock-only foot down, which then sank even deeper into the muck. She immediately began to cry, and I immediately began to wonder what I had been thinking in the first place to take all four kids out in this cold weather. Mike was grading papers in our family room, and since I did not have a cell phone with me (another brilliant mistake) I hoped he would look up from his red inked pen, out the window and see us stuck in the muck and come help get us home. He didn’t. So I dug deep from my dignity, put my hand in the muck, grabbed Hannah’s boot and tried to console four crying, cold, wet, manure-covered children and assure them we would be home soon. I had Hannah climb on my back, had Riley in my arms, and Colin and Sydney were each holding onto one pant leg as we stumbled and bumbled one inch at a time like a five-person circus down the rest of the hill towards home. We got there just as the icicles began to hang off of their little noses. I stripped the down, and plunged each one into a very hot shower to scrub the experience off and warm up. I love autumn, even when things don’t go my way. Even when the view from inside the house turns out to be a lot better than the cold on the outside. Autumn brings out the best in me….most of the time. But I guess that’s why they made hot cocoa in the first place.


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