I am blessed. I was able to escape the real world and head toward the South. I've been staying with my sister and her family in Tennessee for the past few days. We haven't been doing much; my three-year-old nieces' schedule pretty much rules when we can head out. Plus the weather has been stifling hot and humid.
Until today, that is.
Today we opened the door to go to church and were met by a cool breeze rather than the heavy heat we had closed the windows to yesterday. All three grown-ups exclaimed over the coolness, trying to convince the three-year-olds that Fall had come and they didn't need their white, Summertime church shoes. (It didn't work.)
The air was even cooler when we climbed out of the car after the 30 minute drive to church. "Wow!" My sister, Amanda, said. "What a good Fall day!"
"No, it is not," came the response from a three-year-old still upset over her shoes.
Amanda and I looked at each other with wry smiles. I had to agree with my sister: it was a great Fall day.
In church I was reunited with friends and family whom I have not seen in around four years. Four...Far too long. It was a beautiful and happy church service, and I was thrilled to be surrounded by family.
After church was family dinner at my grandparents house. Some things never do change. Again I was surrounded by love and family and yummy food. Oh, and don't forget the football on TV. The game was on the radio during the drive back home (much to the dismay of the three-year-olds in the back seat..."I don't want to yissen to fyootbaw. I want myusic, Mommy.") and on TV again as soon as we walked in the door.
And an after-church nap...A-MAZ-ING.
Of course, what is a house with two three-year-olds without a few meltdowns? During one such meltdown we decided to leave the house and go to an open field and "fly Daddy's plane." See, Elijah (my brother-in-law) makes little wooden gliders and likes to fly them from time to time. "Usually we are here until he loses the plane," Amanda said. "But he likes to make them so it's not really sad when they're gone."
The wind kicked up on the walk to the field, and the evening grew a little cooler. Amanda and I sat and watched her daughters run after their Daddy and his plane. We chatted a bit, but we spent more time laughing over the girls and the plane. And as one of the girlies ran toward Elijah she yelled, "It is a good Fall day, Daddy. It is a good Fall day!"
Some of the best times are the quieter times: the normal, day-to-day times. After spending a day surrounded by people and things I love I have to agree with my niece. It may not have been an extraordinary day, but it was a good Fall day.
Proverbs 15:13a
