Just back from a great weekend at Chapel Hill. Nothing beats a college town…there’s so much energy! But there are also pockets of quirky beauty (like this caboose in Carrboro, the hipster town adjacent to the main campus at the University of North Carolina) and happy meanderings down quiet, leafy streets.
Who can’t wait for fall? Raise your hand!! ?There are new pencils, books, bookbags, boxes of Kleenex to send in with the kids…or maybe you’re in school yourself. Or maybe you’re not, and your subconscious simply clings to September-June as school-time—you walk or drive or ride the train to your office job and daydream the same way you did back in the day, when you were heading to class and the company of your best friends—and first period was that teacher who saw right through you when you tried to BS why you didn’t have your homework. But possibility loomed, no matter what your situation. School wasn’t home. You forged your own identity there.
We miss reliable patterns but not just any patterns: we miss ones woven with wonderClick To TweetAnd then it all came to a halt. No more paper bag lunches. That kid with the long sideburns you had a crush on moved out-of-state and those notes you and your friends passed back and forth about getting him to notice you were all for naught. Summertime came. No matter how bad or good you had it in school, summertime meant: I get to start over, and *this* time, I’ll do even better. I’ve learned something about life. I can’t wait to show you, world!!!! Just. You. Wait. ⚡️??
That’s what a lot of us miss: the sense that we have grown and can see & feel that growth. We want second chances. We miss reliable patterns but not just any patterns: we miss ones woven with wonder. We want a long stretch of respite for our weary souls, and we crave new opportunities on our horizons.
Wherever you are on your journey through the classroom of the world, don’t forget that you never stop learning and growing. Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t belong or that you can’t do something. We are bigger than our circumstances. We have more power in our little pinkies than most of us dare to believe. But BELIEVE. And pass it on. Be the teacher, too. ???
Here are three things I plan to do this autumn to get back into the “wonder” of it all:
1) Totally make this butternut squash and bacon soup recipe from my fabulous sister-in-law Sharon Wray, who’s a military romantic suspense author and hosts the {Hungry} Romance Writer blog!
2) Take a daily walk to the dock in our neighborhood with my husband Chuck and our dog Striker. It’s a couple thousand steps to the Stono River, a saltwater tidal estuary that runs to the sea. Autumn in the Lowcountry has its own spare beauty. The marsh grass pales to a light wheat color, and the sunsets get particularly hot pink. This picture I took recently–in August–is one of my favorites. I’m not facing the river here–I’m looking back at my neighborhood, which is mainly hidden by the trees:
3) I’m going to read, read, read! I’ve just started a reading log, and some of my stand-out books–both fiction and non-fiction–I’ll talk about in my newsletter and on the blog.
So that’s where I’m starting my “wonder.” I hope you find ways to get back to the wonder yourself! Happy fall, y’all!!!!
Hugs,
Kieran xoxo
