A Magical Autumn

Today, I woke up from a four-hour nap (after working last night 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. with an extra hour thanks to the time change) and the house was silent. I was so sure the girls were off the property that I checked to see if Jay’s truck was in the driveway. Both vehicles were there. It was a first-time event: the girls were quiet and on the property and awake.

I came down stairs, groggy, and heard giggling from the front porch. Looking out the window, I saw Natalie on the picnic bench, coloring her pumpkin with chalk. I saw Lainie coloring clouds on the porch floor. I saw a tumbleweed stuck in our patio table like a patio umbrella. And, I saw Katie waving leaves around like wings.

“Look, Mommy! It’s a FairyLand! Natalie and Lainie are the tinker fairies; they are fixing the tables. Maggie’s the decorating fairy; she’s decorating our house. And I’m the dance fairy. Watch me dance, Mommy!”

When Natalie saw me, she dropped the chalk and sprinted as fast as her chubby little legs could run, jumping for a big hug and snuggle. She smelled of fall, like cool dirt and dried leaves, which only made sense, since she spent the afternoon digging potatoes with Daddy and had a fairy wreath of leaves in her hair.

Lainie was singing as she colored, one song after another. “Twinkle Twinkle” and “B-I-N-G-O” and “Wildcat Victory” and “Bubble-Guppies”… not all her songs are traditional.

Maggie was carrying a piece of soft pipe used in one of high tunnels, but it was no longer a pipe. Now it was a majorette’s baton, a ninja’s sword, a fairy’s magic wand, and eventually a Big Sister’s weapon to clock a Little Sister.

And Katie was dancing, twirling, kicking, spinning, happy with life, no worries what anyone would say, no cares about who was looking.

I know moments like these are going by too fast, and I’m so grateful I got to experience this one.

The Fairy Land

Our uncut Jack-O-Lanterns. So glad the girls didn't ask about it; we never found time to cut them this year.