October 27, 2022 — We woke up this morning to a hard frost whose cold jolted the boys and me as we walked outside to the truck for the daily drive to school. Hawthorn and Colebrook were both in t-shirts. It would have been a good day to jump in and drive off quickly with the heat blasting away that 31 degree air, but I had to search the garage for a scraper. After finding one and scraping off frost and chunks of frozen droplets from yesterday’s rain, I joined my two hunched over teenagers shivering in the cold car.
As we drove east down Bohemian Road by stiff gray pastures and glazed forests, we talked about after school, and I realized that just like the randomness of summer, fall and winter weather we are experiencing, my boys are in the same place with their activities. “I am going to run for cross country practice, then let’s ride bikes at Palmer before basketball at the townhall,” suggests Colebrook. “I’d like to play tennis and lift weights,” says Hawthorn. Every fall winter and summer sport is on the table. A friend even suggested yesterday that we go for one last swim in Lake Michigan.
On Tuesday morning I had Sonny. It was windless and silent as we hiked along Shalda Creek through a red pine forest and by the two grand white pines towering over a long forgotten trail. The raindrops were as small as mist and left each landscape we walked through feeling ethereal. It was warm and comfortable like a fall day that I’ve experienced so many times before. There may be lots to do in fall, but nothing beats a hike.
