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moments that matter

Autumn is in the air

Temperatures are still hitting the 90’s and mosquitoes are still sucking the life out of us here in the South, but nevertheless, autumn is in the air. I can glimpse it in the dimmer mornings and the afternoons that slip more quickly into evening. I can feel it in the slight morning chill as I pack the kids in the car for daycare. I can see it in the first leaves turning brown, red, and orange, and in the chrysanthemums and pumpkins adorning every roadside vegetable stand and grocery store entrance.

It seems that each year the seasons slip by more and more quickly. Precisely in the phase of life when I most want to be savoring the moments with my small kids, life is speeding up. Most days it feels like a rush straight from morning juice (coffee for me) to bedtime snuggles. In the past, fall always made me sad because it meant that winter was coming next. But now that I am older, I recognize that every season—even chilly winter—has something lovable about it. So before I blink and it is gone, I wanted to spend some time thinking about what I’d like to do this season to drain every last drop of color from it.

#1 - Play in the Leaves

I’m oddly frugal about weird things, things like lawn equipment. For some reason, it seems like a waste of money to me to purchase a lawn mower or a leaf blower. Consequently, last fall we had a blizzard of fallen leaves in our yard by early November. Eventually, I got around to raking them into huge piles and my kids and husband and I spent a morning playing in them. My son, who was only one-and-a-half when our leaf-jumping bonanza happened last fall, recently asked me if we were going to be able to do it again this year. That’s how much fun it was. “Yes,” I told him. “Definitely.”

#2 - Take a Girls Trip

I never, ever forget how lucky I am to have my much wished-for daughter. But sometimes, I don’t have as much attention for her as I’d like to. Every so often, we go on special dates—to the coffee shop or to yoga—but she can sometimes get back burner-ed to her louder, littler brother. So this fall I’m heading to my hometown for Thanksgiving, which I haven’t done for years, and taking only my daughter with me. Best of all, I’ve already bought the tickets, so now my daughter and I can enjoy the next two month of planning what we’ll do while we’re there: dinner out with a dear friend, a river tour of the city, and eating pancakes and watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Few things are more enjoyable than joyful anticipation!

#3 - Be Outside

Soon it will be too chilly for those pesky mosquitoes and, once again, we’ll be able to spend time in the garden. In particular, I want to plant flowers by the entrance to our house—even if we’ll just lose them come winter—so we have a cheerful welcome when we come home. In the same realm, I want to hike with my kids in the woods near our house and marvel at the fall colors cartwheeling down all around us.

#4 - Get Spooky

Halloween is a big deal in our family. It’s my husband’s favorite holiday, and for the past two years we’ve dressed up as a family. The first year, we were all owls. The second year, we were all woodland creatures (bonus: we got to re-use some of our owl costumes). This year, the plan is: superheroes. So, at a minimum, I want to pull off a great family costume, and maybe take a memorable picture. Beyond that, I’d like to decorate the house more than I normally do (which is not very much at all) and, in general, embrace the spookiness.

#5 - Bake Something

My kids love to work in the kitchen. So now you’re picturing cute, smiling children in tiny aprons calmly whisking. In fact, cooking with toddlers is one of those things that sounds charming before you actually do it and, in the moment, is more like one child swiping raw egg into his mouth from the trash can while another stirs pancake batter right out of the bowl…then they start fighting. It’s one of the least relaxing cooking experiences a person could have. And yet…

They love it. And after it’s all over, I love it too. I love that we’re working on something together. I love that they’re learning life skills, and gaining competence and an appreciation for food. I love that my mother taught me how to cook, and now I’m teaching my kids how to cook. I think of my children, in their own apartments or houses one day, making pancakes just like we used to do.

So this fall, I’d like us to bake something. Something simple, like cookies or banana bread, but something, nonetheless, and I’d like to not get stressed out while it happens.

Slow Down

If I have one goal on my list for fall it’s to not let the holiday season turn into a season of stress. Each year, I dread all the expense and social expectation associated with the holidays. (Extroverts, reading this, are probably feeling like their receiving communications from outer space, but I’m guessing fellow introverts know what I’m talking about). This year I want to slow down, take it easy, and NOT OVER-COMMIT.

It’s a pretty simple bucket list, but that’s what feels manageable as the working mom of two. What’s on your fall bucket list? Share your ideas in the Comments section below.

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A Working Mom’s Autumn Bucket List