Leaf Party 2009

Keeping me company as I post, just before midnight, are the last three remaining guests at the Leaf Party 2009. They rode home with Jude, John Patrick and me from the Farmer's Market a couple of weeks ago. They went to work with me and greeted clients as they came in the front door of our office until yesterday, when they returned to our house for the Leaf Party. I'm pretty sure they're set to leave tomorrow.

I'm sitting on our front porch, enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures for early November in Nashville (72 degrees today!). It's quiet - Jude, John Patrick, Troy, Cyndi and Finn having gone to bed earlier tonight. Wolf and Scout are staying with friends, before the Baines clan heads home to Florida tomorrow morning. I've got Paul Burch playing on my laptop, setting the tone for my mood, which is a little melancholy.

As I look up at the majestic maple tree looming protectively over our front yard, I realize that Halloween is officially over, fall is nearing its end and winter is just around the corner. Only a few gold leaves remain in the lower branches of our tree. Most of its branches are bare, a sure sign that colder weather is coming soon. It's a little sad, really.

Another Leaf Party, our 7th, is in the books. As always, the kids had a great time playing in the leaves our tree blessed us with this year. I'm smiling as I look out into the front yard and remember that just a few hours ago, it was full of kids of all ages, yelling and laughing, jumping into piles of leaves and, then, throwing them into the air. They took turns pulling each other in our green John Deere wagon through the front yard, into the back yard, then back to the front yard as their parents -our good friends - talked contentedly with each other.

As always, it was great to visit with the Baines family, although the weekend went by too quickly. After the Leaf Party, Wolf, Scout and I reenacted our walk together from last year. This time, we walked through Belmont University's campus to Bongo Java for coffee and popsicles. On the way home, as darkness fell, we threw a frisbee together on the soccer field on campus. They're getting so big - Wolf is 9 and Scout is 7. It's hard to believe I once pushed Wolf in his stroller around the block in his old neighborhood, while Cyndi lay inside their house, sick during her pregnancy with Scout. Wolf was probably 18 months old then, about a month younger than John Patrick is now. Boy, time sure does get by you, doesn't it?