My Autumn Dreams

I am officially in the mood for autumn.

I have been finding this mood ready to take over as the lush, full greens of summer wane in the oppressive heat of summer's last obsessive fling. The bright, happy colors I have worn for the last few months seem somewhat overbright now as they reflect a freshness that is no longer in the air around me, and my eyes have begun to revel again in the deeper browns, golds, reds and rusts that usher in the autumn every year.

It seems as if the very air is holding its breath for the arrival of the autumn coolness, taunting me with the heaviness of its anticipation.

Already I can hear the sounds of children diving into leaf piles and the crisp, clear voice of churchbells traveling on the endless October blue. Already, I am tasting the hot apple cider spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg that warms my inside even as I cuddle up with a book beside the fire. Already, I can almost smell the bonfires on the air, the smoky scent of burning leaves and the warm, hazy scent of hay that has cured.

This autumn holds much for me outside of the normal traditions of fall.

I will be living in my own rental house for the first time. It's not an apartment with people upstairs or downstairs. I'll have my own mailbox and my own kitchen and my own bedroom and my own study. I'll get to be nestled into a little copse of woods to catch my own fall colors and rake my own leaves.

I will be preparing to be a wife, and setting up a home for my husband-to-be, and having company stay with me who have come to help me. I will be relearning how to cook, since I'll be 20 minutes from any restaurant and I used to love to cook! Perhaps I'll even begin baking again!

I will be getting married, and my roses will be cream and orange and red. My bridesmaid dresses are the warm hunter green that always reminds me of Thanksgiving and Christmas and the silver adds a bit of sparkle for the autumn frost. We'll probably bob apples at my wedding and even have a bit of a hoedown for our reception. There will be candlelight and music, and laughter and family and fun! On the wedding day, we'll have our pictures taken with the autumn colors in the background. And then I will be a wife.

After the wedding, I will be traveling to Colorado, the home of my heart, with my new husband, the love of my life. We'll arrive just in time to chase the brilliantly golden streaks of aspens up and down the mountainsides together, and we might even see a bit of snow to keep us in our warm, firelit honeymoon suite together just to talk. We might take in a symphony in Denver, or a hike near Long's Peak, or even do a little bit of shopping in Estes Park.

After the honeymoon, we'll come home and return to work, probably glowing much more than any person has a right to, but being completely oblivious to the indulging smiles of our coworkers. We'll set up our new house together and spend our evenings resting and entertaining and dreaming about where God may take us in the future that only He knows.

This Thanksgiving will be the third I have spent away from home, with a wedding reception in Connecticut with Pete's family. But he will be my home then, so I don't think I will be homesick. It will be a bittersweet November, because my grandparents died in November, but I know they would want me to continue to live and to enjoy the life God has given me.

Then, as autumn yields her reign to winter, I will begin a whole new series of traditions, and every day, I hope I thank God for the colors and dreams that He has given me, and for the abundance that He has given to me this year. It only takes one time to discover that you can thank Him, and then you find that He has outpoured Himself upon you and you can't thank Him enough.