The Perfect Ending

Autumn is my favorite season.  There is something so peaceful in waking up to a chill in the air and warming my hands around my coffee mug.

As the leaves begin to turn, the trees burst forth into their final masterpiece before sleeping through the stillness of winter.  There is so much color and life getting ready to settle in.

The busyness of a new season keeps us running, but there is so much we are missing.  If only we could sit still and savor the beauty of the season.  The beauty of a time of change.

Last night, after the dinner dishes were cleared, I bundled up the children and we went outside to light a campfire.

Their sticky faces, peeking out of their hooded sweatshirts, glowed gently in the firelight.

I sat there hugging our toddler as she covered me in graham cracker crumbs.  I watched my older children marvel at the way marshmallows change in the heat of a campfire.

Sparks flew into the night like fireflies and the gentle cracklings of the burning logs broke the silence of a perfect evening.

It was the simplest of moments but it made the perfect ending to an autumn day.