Week 9: Reflection Spot #3 – Sometimes You Just Need to Stop and Appreciate

I want to say that not much has changed since the last time I was here, but I know better than that. I know to look a little harder and breathe a little deeper. I know to stop myself. To stop and appreciate.

Appreciate the leaves that dance in the air as the wind blows. Appreciate the crispness in the air as you realize you might need a heavier jacket. Appreciate the birds in the treetops, now completely visible to the person who knows where to look. Appreciate the darkness falling over the world earlier now, signaling that the days are getting shorter.

Appreciate the fact that today was a beautiful day! It’s November and I broke out shorts and almost wore flip-flops. (I even went out barefoot last night to go study – something I only do in the Spring.) Come to think of it, the past few days have been pretty great. Even though winter is coming, as evidenced by the leaves it’s pulled from the trees, it hasn’t arrived yet.

Fall is holding on to those few leaves to give us a few more days of cool, crisp weather. Before the freezing, frigid air swoops in.

This past Saturday, Andrew and I spent our morning at Pumphouse Park picking up trash. We had a blast exploring a new part of the James River Park System while helping to do our part to help out. It was a beautiful park with a long, windy trail. We walked the whole loop all the way over to North Bank Park (another park in the James River Park System) and back across to the pumphouse along the railroad tracks. Amidst all of the trash, we got to spend a few moments appreciating the last glimpse of the river before it is soon covered in a blanket of cold, before every tree becomes barren, before it becomes silent as animals begin to hide away.

I find myself doing the same thing tonight. The forecast for this week predicts temperatures to drop. So tonight may be the last night of fall.

The trees here aren’t done shedding just yet and I cannot see my breath tonight. While there has been some snow already this year and while it now gets dark at 5:30, fall is still here and I am spending its last few days appreciating what it has to offer. Tonight may be the last time to appreciate fall.

Before it’s gone. Before I go home for break. Right here. Right now.

Sometimes you just need to stop and appreciate the here and now, for it’ll only be a matter of time before change is upon us.