A cool breeze snuck through my window this morning. It tickled my nose and made me sneeze. Is that the beginning of fall? Its almost been over a year since I returned from Europe, my suitcases are tucked away. The baggage claim tags are still there, but its again time to wrap up in cotton sweaters and pack away the flip-flops, to start drinking pumpkin lattes and making pumpkin pancakes. Boots will replace toeless shoes.  Whatever it is, it seems that this morning marked a new change. My horse will be coming into town from the high prairie plains again. For the first time since moving to Colorado  I’ll be able to see her every day, and give her grain when I need to, and wander out on the trails that lead into the Rocky Mountains, instead of just gazing at their towering peaks from a distance. She won’t live quite so wild anymore. No more hour drives to the middle of nowhere to play cowboy.

Dark clouds hung over all day, blocking the sun from reminding me its August, my birthday month, my favorite month since childhood, which meant swimming parties and hot cement. It meant I turned another year older. Up until this year, I was excited to turn a year older, but this year might be that first marker of the urge to NOT want to turn any older. Its dark outside my window and it doesn’t smell like rain, we didn’t get the much needed moisture this summer to green up the dryness that cracked our plains. I think of the ocean, the salty breeze that my sun drenched hair craves.

Its almost time for hoodies.., I feel the cold breeze wrapping around my bare toes, so I’ll wiggle them under my dog at my feet. Thats a first. Pretty soon I’ll have to shut the windows which have remained open since April to air out our stuffy basement apartment. For the first time, this cool breeze hasn’t whispered at me from far away places. This summer has marked lots of change. Pretty soon I’ll roll my portable heater back out and we’ll wrap up the windows. I’m not sure I’m ready for cool weather, or school. I’m not sure I ever am. But with the cool comes change, and fall, and new adventures. It means corn mazes and sipping on warm drinks, bundling up and being cuddly. It means long drives up the Poudre Canyon to watch the leaves fall, and iced afternoon coffee’s turn back into hot tea. Good thing I didn’t pack my sweaters too far back behind everything else, i’ll need them soon.