What, me worry?

Nolan in his green and white "Michigan State" shirt



A

A couple of days ago, I picked up my 3-year-old grandson, Nolan, from day care and took him back to my house for a while until his Dad could come get him.

As we pulled into my driveway he asked me if Aunt Sunny (our daughter Sloan) was there. I had tried to explain to him in the past that Sunny moved to North Carolina a few weeks ago, but he's used to her being away to college and coming home to visit on a fairly regular basis. It's hard for him to understand that she is not going to be around much any more.

I told him that, no Sunny wasn't there, she moved far, far away and we would only get to see her once in a while from now on.

"It makes Grandma very sad," I said.
"I'm not sad," he said, which surprised me. Sunny is definitely one of his favorite people in the world - when she's around, the rest of us are invisible.
"You're not? I thought you really liked hanging out with Sunny."

I came around to his side of the car and began unbuckling his car seat.
"Oh, I love her," he said. "I'm just not going to worry about it."

Such wisdom from the mouth of babes!

Autumnal Equinox

It's officially autumn today and soon the trees around here in Michigan will ease into color.  It's my favorite time of year, one I look forward to, but one that goes too quickly. It's hard to believe that September is almost gone.

Each fall I do a couple things to try to celebrate it, capture it and slow it down.

One thing is, I get out my fall/Halloween quilt projects and work on them at least until the end of October.  They are a couple of projects I have been picking away at for a few years now, and I won't finish them this year either, but it's fun to sew on them while the season is in gear.

The second thing is, I get out my "October Notebook" and I write about autumn things. I like to write up a few simple memoir essays about Halloween from when the kids where small. I also have a character I write short stories about (set only in the fall, with a creepy undercurrent) and each year I write another short story in that series.

And lastly, each year I re-read Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes." It's absolutely one of the best books set in October ever written - and creepy too.