And Then it's October

Looking out my office window I know it is October again. I feel it in the air and the early darkening skies in the evening. I feel the memory of the beginning days of October last year when my thoughts and my heart  were filled with the reality of them being Dad's and Gladys'  final days. I feel a certain heaviness looking back at my journal entries knowing what was waiting  for me last year. But October is so beautiful and holds so many comforting memories. For thirty four years we have as a family made our way to Kings Landing and allowed the beauty and peacefulness of that place be a part of our Thanksgiving. We hope to make our way there again this year and look forward to feeling October on the banks of the Saint John River in a village that feels like home to us. This October we are blessed with daily visits with Emma and Paige. I can also walk down to see my three other grandchildren  when they get off the bus. How blessed to have them all nearby. Last week I pulled off an escape by attending a Go and Write retreat  in St. Andrews and it was amazing. I had great interaction with fellow writers and lived in a grand house. But coming home was good too and the reality is I have a role at this stage of my life to be a wife ,mother and grandmother and that entails cooking, cleaning, and a fair bit of obsessing. I can also escape to my office and my writing and even though getting kids off the bus, making meals , doing laundry, managing this house and supporting my people gets thrown in I do not take that gift for granted. And would I want it any other way?