I forgot to take the picture before the sun set today, so you are just going to have to believe me: one of the trees in our front is starting to change colors.

I’ve noticed other trees starting to change, but when I saw the tree out front it really struck me: fall is here. And oddly enough, it’s right on time.

Having lived in Georgia for the past 22 years, I’ve kind of forgotten what fall is really like. We have gone off to orchards for fall festivals in North Georgia when it’s been in the upper 80s, and I can think of more than one Thanksgiving when we were sitting on my in-law’s porch in shorts.

But up here in the mountains–fall has arrived.

So I’m trying to be attentive to the changes going on around me. The shortening days. The chill in the morning. And of course the leaves.

Change is happening all around me in the natural world–and of course, change is happening all around me in my daily life as well. And I’m no more capable of stopping those changes in my daily life than I am of stopping the seasons.

The challenge, then, is: can I remain aware of the changes going on all around me?

I hope so.

I can’t really take a picture of myself remaining aware to prove it… so you are just going to have to believe me.