fall settle

September always slays me.  I love it and fear it with equal parts -- the shift and the noise and the readjustments.  But by the time October arrives and the colors begin to turn, we wake to the crisp air and woodfire smell in the mornings and I want to start making soups, I remember that I really do love fall.  We're all settling in with some grace.  Solomon is rad at kindergarten.  He is really starting to blossom and is full of questions and math facts, his little mouth running on and on about the dramas of his life.  Eliana claims third grade is her best yet.  She sings Matilda like it's going out of style and actually performed two numbers for the extended Grillo clan after dinner last night.  It was pretty amazing, her bravery, her fierce belief in herself, her props and blocking and choreography just so.  Jeff and I have turned a corner with them in that they can pretty much hang with us these days.  Last weekend we hiked to the summit of a mountain at 7000 feet and their attitudes were pretty remarkable throughout.  We kept looking at each other wondering when the whines would start but for the most part they were pretty damn awesome.  My love affair for this town, these mountains, my new neighborhood, my home, continues to expand.  While Jeff loves the woods this time of year, I still heart the open space, looking down on the colors from above, the golden hills and bright blue sky.  I'm dancing again and that fills me up -- I can't really believe I ever let it go for as long as I did.  So, all in all, I'll take it, I'll take fall.