Fall!

Yes, fall is finally here. I've been waiting anxiously for it. A saw a hint of it a couple of weeks ago as I was driving over Geist and a gust of wind blew some leaves on my car. I halfway felt like I was in the beginning credits of a Lifetime movie and a camera on a helicopter should be filming my car as I pulled into the driveway of one of the giant, gorgeous homes on Geist. Too bad that wasn't true.

The weather has been very fall-like this week. The temperatures have been cool enough for sweatshirts and warm meals, like the chili and crockpot chicken and noodles made in our house this week. I'm looking forward to several things this fall including our first wedding anniversary. I also love the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas when your home feels a little cozier than it does during any other time of the year.

However, this week has also brought some sadness to our family. My great aunt Hazel passed away on Tuesday. She was my mom's aunt and since I never knew my maternal grandmother, my mom's aunts always seemed like surrogate grandmothers to me and Jess. I have fond and warm memories of going to my aunt Hazel's house. I remember that she had the best backyard that I had ever seen as a little girl simply because it had tomato plants in it. We used to play for hours with magnets on the back porch with her dog, Pepper, following us around. And when we were lucky to spend the night, we got to watch TV and eat popcorn and steal as many jelly beans from the candy jar in the kitchen as we wanted to, just as long as we didn't tell mom. The beds in her house were always too tall for me to climb onto by myself, and I thought the $2 bill under the glass in her vanity mirror was the coolest thing ever. She suffered a stroke at the end of June and had been doing well, but after 91 years, she passed in her sleep at the nursing home. I pray that we can all be as lucky to have 91 years on this earth and die without any kind of suffering.

I'm doing more of what I need to do this weekend and that includes spending time with friends. Tonight I am celebrating a friend's upcoming wedding with a bachelorette dinner downtown. Tomorrow, I will be a college student for a day and return to BSU for tailgating, the homecoming game, and a typical BSU Saturday night in the village. Sunday I will return to the real world and grade furiously in anticipation for the end of the quarter.

Have a great weekend!