9.20.23 // Hints of Fall

I'm starting to feel hints of fall in the breeze.
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The sun is still shining but the promise of change feels imminent. The summer is holding on but the precipice of fall lingers, waiting for us to teeter over, ready to hold us in the cool, crisp mornings and wrap us in our warm, cozy coats.
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And while the season change is on the cusp of transition outside, I can feel the season change of my heart on the cusp of transition inside.
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I've felt deeply aligned with the changes in nature this year, my internal world mimicking the external world in a beautifully curious way.
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I started the new year with a deep, dark winter. My body, mind, and soul froze and clung to warmth, going inward and forcing my focus on how to exist in a world turned upside down.
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In spring, I started to unfreeze. My courage thawed with the wildflowers that were coming through snow patches and reaching toward the sunshine like their life depended on it. Both of our lives depended on that reach towards the sun, to come out of the darkness, the cold, and the death of the previous season.
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Then summer came in like the beautiful whirlwind of long hot afternoons and the sound of cicada songs sung under big open star-filled nights. While the days beautifully yawned on and my skin soaked in each ray of sunshine, confidence and curiosity came beaming back to me like I was being refueled by the trust that the sun would come up every morning.
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Now with fall on the horizon, I can tell there are parts of me that are ready to jump out towards the precipice of fall. Memories and pain that were carried from last winter and early spring, tucked away from the brilliance of summer, are edging back into my mind. I am ready to lay these memories to rest. Maybe they can't completely fade away in the fall, but my body and mind are aching for them to start their passing.
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While I usually cling to summer with both hands, I'm starting to feel hints of fall in the breeze and I trust that like the rest of this past year, I'm ready for the imminent change of what's next and the season shift that is on the horizon.