LOTS of Circles!

I'm still not ready to open this blog to anyone. Eventually, there will be the circle who is invited to see it. I've been thinking a lot about my circles. I chose the title of this blog because I figured it fit so well with my life. Clearly, there are others who thought the same thing! :-) A search on "circle game" led to many circle games in the blog world. Unique? I guess not!

So, the priest at my church has started a group to explore Parker Palmer's book A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life. Wouldn't you know, it's all about circles, circles of trust. During the 5 minute meditation time I kept seeing a Venn diagram of my circles of people. I really should sit down and draw.

They're Coming Home!

It's fall break at Longwood University. That means the 21 and 22 year-olds will be home tomorrow. There has been a comfortable rhythm about the girls being at school. With both of them at Longwood, we've been lucky to deal with just one academic calendar. But this is the last fall break. They will both get their bachelor's degree in May. One of them will make a transition to the non-college world, the other will start graduate school. Neither of them will have this cherished long weekend in October. They're coming home with plans of hair appointments, pedicures and meal requests. Yes, they'll have some classwork but they'll also hit the mall, bake some cookies and tell me which movies I should watch. We'll talk about getting from fall break to the next break - Thanksgiving. Oh, my. Then, they'll pack up the sweaters that didn't go to school in August and head back to the lives they've built in Farmville. I'll enjoy the whirlwind of their visit. They're coming home!

And the Seasons They Go Round and Round

It's fall, my favorite time of year. I love the colors, the cool mornings, the warm days, the nippy nights. I love the apples, the pumpkins, the college football. Nine years spent in the tropics reminded me how I appreciate the cycle of the temperate zone seasons.

Now I find myself looking at fall as a season for my life. Because fall is my favorite season, I'm not too worried about thinking of the fall of my life as a morbid time. Hopefully, this will be a season full of harvest, a time to savor the events of spring and summer.

I'm 51, my daughters are 21, 22 and 25. There is a grandchild coming. A grandchild that will be born in the winter. Seasons, round and round, too slow, too fast. I want to stay in fall for a while.