Just the passing of another season ...

As I type this, I have three little people around me begging to dig out the winter clothing box, because they're cold. I received a teeny, sarcastic little reprimand from my physical therapist yesterday for being inappropriately dressed for the weather--I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, which I guess is just all wrong?! People are funny about the changing of seasons, especially when the season is changing from a sweltering summer to the cool days and nights of fall. True, the temperatures dropped quite literally 40 degrees in a matter of four days, and some of us are in a wee bit of climate shock, but we'll get used to it in a few days. Isn't that the way it always is with the changing of seasons?

This month brings a lot of changes for our family--but we're no strangers to change! In a few weeks' time BOTH of our adult children will have finally moved on to begin their lives with their new spouses. Jon and Meagan are working on getting their residence established up at Fort Campbell, while Kelsey will finally be able to move down to Pensacola with Derrick as he begins another (longer, this time) Army school. This means we will no longer have either of our oldest two children "available" to us anymore. Having all of our children present for a worship service in the same building is now going to be a once-a-year (at most) occurrence, and we will only be sitting around the same dinner table "regularly" at holidays.

I'm not sad. A little melancholy, because I'd sort of hoped that our children would settle close to "home" so we could enjoy their company, but I'm not sad. This is exactly what is supposed to happen. They grow up, marry, and move on to begin their own lives! Soon, Lord willing, we'll have announcements of grandchildren on the way as another generation begins. It's a bit shocking to consider what is ahead in the next couple of years, but it is really no different than any other season of life. The sudden changes do bring stun us a little, but as with the change of the summer to fall, it's something we'll get used to.

We always do.