Around here

I used to share photo posts more often, and I want to return to that practice.  It helps me see all the breathtaking beauty in my own life. I do share photos on Instagram, but I hope to so here more frequently.

We’re in the thick of fall now, the rhythms established, the pace fast. The leaves are changing around us, and keep thinking of the first line of the only short story I’ve ever published: so many thing are at their most beautiful just before they die. Indeed.  The fall is a bittersweet season for me.  Even more bittersweet than the rest of the year, you could say.

So: a few moments from around here so far this fall.  Nothing is perfect, of course, but in the end, everything is perfect.  How lucky we are.

My brand-new goddaughter came to visit.  It was magic.  Even more incredible, for me, was watching her with Grace and Whit.  I took photographs that I’ll cherish forever of them looking at her and her looking at them.  The generations tumble on and I’m so immensely grateful for the brief moments that I can share with the friends (like my goddaughter’s mother, who I met when I was 16) who knew me when I was becoming who I am. 

I spent a weekend in Shelter Island with 16 friends from college.  Above is one of my three roommates, during our sunset kayak on Saturday evening.  I wrote about the weekend here, and acknowledged that as I get older I’m better able to embrace and sink into the mystery that fills the space between us.  I’m so hugely thankful for that mystery; instead of trying to understand it, I just let it envelop me now.  A reader commented that that sounds a lot like grace, and that sentence brought tears to my eyes.  Yes, it does.

Whit got drafted into the Majors in our local Little League, and had his first scrimmage.  Once again he’s the little guy on the team, but it’s so much fun to watch him stretch his wings.  He also returned to the ice, and as I write this on Columbus Day weekend Matt texted me to say he just scored!

The cross-country season began.  I returned to the starting and finish line, wellies on and umbrella up (it seems to rain every race), cheering myself hoarse.  Grace is markedly more anxious this season than last, now that she feels the weight of expectation.  We’ve been talking a lot about Beginner’s Mind.  She’s two weeks from 13 now, and she’s in the woods, and I’m waiting for her to emerge.  I know she will.  And I trust that she knows I’m there cheering for her, even if she can’t see me. 

I spent four days on the west coast, including a work retreat near the Golden Gate Bridge.  It was as magnificent up close as I imagined it would be.  I woke up extremely early in the morning when I was out there at (around 3:30 PT) and was pretty exhausted, but it was wonderful to be there.  And, as always, going away reminds me how much I love my home and the details of my mundane, marvelous life.