I should really be sleeping.
It's after midnight..... the house is quiet. There is a warm cozy bed with flannel sheets and a fluffy down comforter just down the hall.....but my mind is clicking away a million miles a second.
So instead I've made some tea and here I sit.
I've been wanting to share these photos with you for awhile now. I've been taking them over the winter.
Leaves.
I love leaves.
Autumn is the time of year I miss the most about living up north. The smell of crisp air and sound of the wind in the trees or crunching leaves beneath your feet. It took me three years, but I found my autumn in the south. They call it winter here. You have to look hard for it..... but it's there.
These photos got me thinking about leaving. {No pun intended.} Autumn is always like the summer's last kiss before it departs. It puts on one last beautiful show for us. I'm never ready for the leaving. For saying goodbye. I'm always the one with half a drink still left yelling "wait, I'm not done yet.... I don't even know your name leaf...."
Our life is all about leaving. We're nearly always coming or going and by the time we've got one gig figured out, we're halfway out the door to the next. It's what we do..... it's how we roll.
This leaving thing always creeps in. And even though I've done it so many times before, I'm always surprised by it. You'd think it was old hat by now, but no.
We're heading into our last year down here in the south. With no idea yet where the next tour will take us, we're in sort of a limbo. An in-between. I'm trying to soak up these next few months and be aware of every bit that surrounds us. Wondering just what will be the thing I hold the most dear, the favorite memory of this place.
I don't know the names of all the birds or flowers or leaves. I don't know the best shortcuts to get from one place to the next. I'm still soaking in the culture and the food and the people and learning all the time what makes the south the south. Yeah, I don't even know her name. But she's beautiful.... and I love her just the same.
