2007 10 02 waiting for fall

Well, the calendar keeps changing but the temperature is remaining the same. I was so optimistic about a beautiful fall this year thanks to all the rain, and now it seems it may turn into just another dead fall. That's what usually happens here in North Texas, everything dies from the heat and lack of rain and falls off the trees before it can change color and fall. And the bag worms have been so severe here this summer that a lot of foliage is gone thanks to the "waterpillars" as the little ones called them.

Haydan is so intuitive to so many things and he has certainly been so about the changing of the season. He has been very concerned about missing Halloween for almost two weeks now. I have been showing him the calendar and trying to get him to understand how each day gets him closer to October 31, but he just has to let each day pass. I don't know if he saw something that reminded him of Halloween last year and that's how he knew it was getting close or if he just sensed the changing of the seasons, but I was amazed that he knew it was getting close.

Last Halloween was when I had gotten my hours cut back at work and I happened to be off on Oct 31 so I took the little ones with their mom and dad to the pumpkin patch. We had a great day there and then that evening I got to go around with them while they trick or treated in the neighborhood. That day was one of the last days their family was together before all their trouble started. The little ones and their mom moved home with me a day or two later and the little ones have been here almost constantly ever since. They were back with their dad for a couple of weeks and those are the weeks I wish I could erase for the whole family, it was nothing but heartbreak, and the only thing I can say is that I am so thankful it's over.

We do have much to be thankful for this year, and there's no better way to prepare for it than to start with a trip to the pumpkin patch. I'm planning to take them next week, hopefully some kind of cold front will come through by then and drop the temperatures down below 90 degrees.