Right now

I am thankful for,

The return of autumn.

Brilliant.

Following a six-year absence from my transient life.

Replaced temporarily by beaches and temperate, seasonless climates.

Returning triumphantly with its persistent golden sunlight,

Piercing the trees and surging through healthy green veins,

Obliterating chlorophyll,

Reaching the green-brown grass in wide, glowing pools.

***

I am thankful for,

Three glossy helmets.

One lavender,

One blue,

One red,

Bobbing while wiry legs pump and coast. Pump and coast.

On their way to the park.

For rolled up denim and sneakers without socks.

For tires cutting through heaps of lifeless leaves in the shoulder.

Crunch, shoosh, sizzle.

For life that promises to pulse on despite the end of the growing season.

***

I am thankful for,

Reprieve.

Remembering, that the last time I saw autumn, I was alone and trembling.

Alone with an infant,

Waiting for my husband to return from months in harm's way,

With a promise that it would be the last such trip. For good.

That it was the last.

***

I am thankful for,

Protection.

That war continues and people are fighting, but that I don't comprehend it.

That I know it only from a distance.

That others have volunteered to shield me from it.

That each autumn there is a reminder.

To pause.

To remember.

To be thankful.

This month, Bigger Picture blogs are serving up weekly helpings of thankfulness. For more moments or to share your own, visit Sarah at This Heavenly Life.