I am going to join everyone else and complain about how ridiculously hot it has been even though the calendar says it is "fall". I am so ready to wear some cute fall outfits and instead I am scraping out repeats of summer outfits that I am more than tired of. Even more than cute outfits, I am in the mood to be "in the mood" to cook and gather around our table. When the temperature goes cooler, I tend to linger in the kitchen longer and we tend to stay around the table long after the meal is complete. We go from the slowed schedule of summer to the start of school so abruptly and I feel like the change of weather gives us a chance to regroup and catch our breath. And this year, more than ever, I am trying to catch my breath. There has been so much change this year. We built this sugar house I sit in right now. I no longer work from home, I have to "go to work". Our oldest is busily preparing for college and today, she got her driver's license. We lost our sweet Bailey Rose. Ugh, that is still so hard to even grasp and puts a lump in my throat. This round of changes has been hard for me. My "role" in so many areas is changing. Parenting an almost 17 year old has been such a transition. I feel like their was a "marked" change of my role earlier this year and it has been an adjustment. I find myself staring at parents with young children and wanting to run up to them and warn them, to tell them to hang on to the little years with all their might. But I know it will go on deaf ears, just as it did on me back in those days. Never has there been a more true description of parenting than "the days are long but the years are short". Don't get me wrong, parenting my teenagers is amazing, as are they. It is just letting go of the role I had and getting used to a new one. I share this not for sympathy, but because I guess there might be a lot of you going through something similar. You might be facing big changes and even if they are good, change can be hard. I have learned from Lara Casey, it is okay to grow slow. I love Lara's review of how she first started her company and all the growing pains she went through. There is so much I can relate to. I am beginning to accept that even if what is going on around me is not changing slowly, that doesn't mean I can't process through it all at my own pace. And you can do the same too. So although it is still too hot to cook a big meal tonight, over the next few weeks I will start transitioning to cooking more and hoping that everyone stays around the table just a little bit longer. SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave]>>
September 28, 2017 — Laura Putnam