I decorated my mantle for autumn. I blinked. Then fall was over.
It's all a blur now, as posts to come will explain. Even though we had a lusciously long fall, the beautiful falls of Virginia could last for twice as long and it would still not be long enough.
We kicked off the first week of fall leaving our soggy home and ventured to the high ground at our cabin to ride out the last bands of hurricane rain at our cabin. Being the first weekend of October meant it was time for our annual Sudnuts and Spider party to celebrate the beginning of our favorite season! Really, it is our Spudnuts and Cider party but when you say it without thinking, 7 times out of 10 it will come out as sudnuts and spider -- so the name sticks.
Bridger was celebrating the weekend at his favorite place, Jill's House respite lodge, so we partied without him -- but was wishing he was with us. . . except when we got to sleep in on Saturday morning -- we weren't missing his 0-dark:thirty rooster call then. It is hard to celebrate fun family time when our family is incomplete. But we also know that the fun family time often just turns into "family time" and not-so-fun when he is with us. It is one of the stinging realities of being a Special Needs family - that in order to fully enjoy an activity, we can only be a partial family; and in order to be together as a complete family - that the enjoyment or happiness we seek in an activity or vacation will be severely limited.
Sadie brought her bestie with her and the 7 of us rolled, punched, glazed, snarfed and chugged our way through the spudnuts and cider.
Eliza enjoyed her favorite spot and watching the deer over the porch railing. Alan was giddy seeing so many deer with the Annual Larson Menfolk Deer Hunt commencing just weeks after. Just like always, thought, those deer were there to taunt him as all men left the hunt with an empty cooler to take home.
The remainder of my fall memories were of afternoons spent on the field of Eliza's first (and possibly last) softball season. Bless her heart, she was the littlest small fry out there and could hardly hold the bat. The first time she hit and all of the coaches were frantically yelling at her to run she just took off like Forest Gump straight into the middle of field towards the pitcher's mound. I have pretty much given up on the hope that my softball gene was passed down to someone.
After the softball dirt came some greener pastures of Sadie's field hockey turf. She loves that sport with a passion and was so excited to be chosen for the All-Stars team.
While Sadie was whacking with her stick, Lance was pounding the pavement. He discovered a love of running (definitely not a gene neither I nor his father passed down to him) and takes off on 5 mile runs. He added an extra challenge to his runs by pushing his brother in his special jogging stroller. Bridger's 80 pound body plus the 30 pound chair adds a significant drag to a runner's wind and is a feat to be commended. I was sitting on the front porch when Lance ran back up the front walk in complete exasperation and left his brother in the jogging stroller at my feet and declared he was DONE. It turns out Bridger, in his initial excitement to be on the runs with Lance, would throw his body back and forth and sway with all his might, laughing hysterically at making his chair nearly tip over. All the while Lance was running, pushing and strong-arming the handle bar with all his might to keep the chair from tipping for the several miles he ran. That would have pushed me over the edge in 10 seconds, but the ever-patient Lance held on for 3 miles enduring that with warnings to his brother to hold still using what breath he had left. We problem solved by taking some fleece fabric scraps and tying Bridger's excited body to the chair and Lance was off and running with him again the next day.
I celebrated the new stage of life that I waited 14 years for of all of my children in school full-time by up'ing my tennis court time to 4 days a week. Tennis is my outlet. Love it and the ladies I play with.
I love fall. It makes me happy. It makes my family happy. It is what Virginia does best.