The smell of Harvest Yankee Candles. The taste of pomegranates. The colors in the trees. Watching the corn maze at the Hall Johnson pumpkin patch grow taller and taller. Going outside at dusk wearing jeans and a hoodie. Pulling out my boots, scarves, and sweaters. My fall playlist (it’s my favorite music of the whole year: William Fitzsimmons, Iron & Wine, City & Colour, A Fine Frenzy, Peter Bradley Adams). The anticipation of Christmas. Halloween decorations everywhere. My nieces and nephew in their Halloween outfits. The annual trip to the pumpkin patch with my sister and her girls. Seeing the Christmas decorations starting to creep around the corner at Hobby Lobby. Back-to-school supplies. Thanksgiving dinner.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with fall. It’s my favorite time of year, followed closely by Christmas (literally. ha ha). My entire year revolves around it.
The last time I had fall was November, 2009. The next time I will have fall: October, 2011. By that time, I will have lived in perpetual summer for 17 months. May of 2010 to September of 2011.
Two years without fall.
This might sound like no big deal to most of you, but it is huge for me. Honestly, it was a big road block for me even coming on the race at all. I had known about the race for years, and always said, “Absolutely no way.” It wasn’t until I heard there was a race leaving in January of 2011 that I even considered it, because that way I would be back in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Somehow being home in time for those two holidays made being away from my family for 11 months a much more bearable thought. So I planned on the January 2011 race.
As I started really praying about it and figuring out logistics, it took a while, but I finally realized that that just wouldn’t work. This was in December of last year, and by January, I knew that I couldn’t wait a full year before leaving, so I decided on the June race.
I love my squad more than I could POSSIBLY have imagined, but a small part of me still wishes I had left in January!
Even though I am living in perpetual summer, my biological clock still knows that it’s supposed to be fall, and every day it seems to get more and more painful to be away from it. I realize that sounds dramatic, but it’s true. There is one day a year that I always look forward to, and that is the day when I wake up and can instantly tell that something in the air has changed; it is the first official day of fall for me. It’s like there’s something in the angle of the sun and the shadows coming in my window that very dramatically changes.
While we were in Ireland I got a very small taste of fall. The weather was cooler and crisper, and we had access to “fall” clothes. How delightful to get to wear scarves and sweaters for a few weeks! But it still wasn’t enough.
It probably sounds like I’m whining, but this is a big deal for me. This is where homesickness is hitting me the worst. This time of year just makes me want to be with my family, and I imagine it will only get worse as it gets closer to Christmas.
Why, oh why didn’t I wait for the January race??
Kidding. 🙂
I just have to keep seeking the Lord for comfort, and reminding myself of where I am and what the Lord has me doing.
I get to eat fresh bananas every day. I get real chai every morning. I get to play duck-duck-goose with elementary school kids. I get to dance and sing with/in front of Ugandan high schoolers. I get to do things like rafting the Nile on my weekends off. I get the satisfaction of doing laundry in a bucket and hanging my clothes out to dry. I get to experience the African sky, which is somehow so much bigger and more striking than the sky anywhere else. I get to watch thunderstorms roll in every afternoon. I get to work with Compassion International. I get to spend a significant time every day discussing the Lord, and delving into His Word. I get to learn how to worship and serve Him, even when I’m exhausted and hurting. I get to learn joy from women living with AIDS. I get to travel around the world with a group of people I absolutely love, in service of my Lord.
