Plans unfulfilled

Fall is coming and I can smell it in the air, and see it in the frenetics of nature.
It's only late August, but the first signs of fall are manifest: the loud late-summer bugs that creek through the night, the heavy red apples breaking the tree branches. Most of the song birds have departed after raising their young. An abundance of little white and yellow butterflies are flecks against the green landscape. The morning sun comes later, and departs earlier in the evening. The darker mornings make it harder to get out of bed. The days temperature is comfortable, but reaches ever lower in the early morning hours. The farmer's fields are harvested and plowed under.

The message is clear: if you had Summer plans that remain unfulfilled, you'd best get started. For Jane and I, Summer always begins with great expectations and big plans. We were going to do all these great things with the kids, spend more time at the lake, take a big family vacation, etc. Indeed, we managed to pull off some of it. But at the end of August, the realization that good plans will go unrealized begins to sink in.

Fall is a season of great change in our household. Its the time the kids "move up" the ranks: Jorgen to first grade, Chloe to pre-k, and little Pete to the big-kids room. If only progress were as easy to measure for us adults.