November sets in

It's almost the middle of November and everything looks different, faded and washed out, brown and gray, nearly pewter. The trees have lost almost all their leaves and we are left with the skeletal architecture of the landscape. The houses look bigger, the vegetation around them shriveled and a bit wild. It can be stark and beautiful, cold and unwelcoming, spare and clean. I remember feeling lonely when I looked out my girlhood window in New York at the spiny branches devoid of leaves. I see beyond that now and find beauty in the starkness of the landscape.

We all took advantage of the balmy weekend. Cole and Carson joined friends in the field at Mapleton Elementary for a birthday party; Quinn and Grant cheered on the Buffs to their razor thin win Saturday against Texas A & M; I had time for some nice runs on the trails with Shiloh; Grant put some new miles on his road bike. Our schedules are so full, but in a different way. The kids have homework and sports, but spend a lot of time joining friends for spontaneous play dates and the weekends are less programed. It's been refreshing to be off our go-go schedules, leaving behind (if temporary) a life of watching the world whiz by through a car window for a slower paced lifestyle. As we reset our schedules, I am finding more time to be in the moment with the boys. As parents we all find ourselves grasping for our children's ephemeral youth, but holding on always feels about as solid as holding on to a soapy wine glass. Some things will never change.