Can you see it?

The angle of the light outside is changing. It's especially noticeable in the mornings. It's getting me excited. It means fall is coming!

Fall is my favorite season of all for a bunch of different reasons. It's not too hot or too cold; it's sweater weather. The days aren't too short. I love the fall leaves in all their colors and shapes and the shadows cast by the sun. For me it's a time of family and fun and promises of holidays to come.

As much as I am looking forward to fall, I'm a bit ambivalent about the end of summer.

This year I was chaffing for summer to begin for my kids. (I was SO done with carpooling and schedules and looking forward to our vacation.) Now I am antsy for the kids to go back. They are getting restless, bored, lazy, and contentious. They need a little time away from each other and I'm longing to go grocery shopping by myself.

But, the kids' return to school also marks RM's return to classes as well. And, this year I'm just not ready. We've had a lot of fun going places and doing things as a family this summer, but we've also spent a lot of time sick. There have been lots of projects big and small that just haven't happened. There are also loose ends to tie up and not a lot of time to do it in. Work has projects that need completing, in addition to messes to be fixed after having had a fire. Classes have not yet begun, but RM already has TA responsibilities at school. Everyone wants his time.

The bright side is that this will be our last year. Come May we will be finished with the Masters degree. Then we'll take a bit of a break before going back for the PhD. I was thinking that this year might not be quite as hectic as others, because he had a year to finish a (busy) semester's worth of work. But, it's starting to look like I was mistaken. (RM has been appointed head TA this year. Apparently everyone else is up to their eyeballs in PhD prep and is unavailable. *Sigh*) One more year. We can see the end from here. We can do this.

In the meantime I'll keep watching the angle of the light chance, feeling the temperature drop, and listening for the sound of leaves crunching under foot...