Early Autumn, Moving, and Link Love
Blurbs, Books, Wolves, and Wheelchairs
Here’s my semi-regular roundup of links to things I’ve loved, books I’m reading, shows I liked, and beauty I’ve listened to. This is a paid post, so to access the whole thing, you’ll need to be a paying reader. At $5 a month (or $2.50 a month for a whole year’s subscription), I hope you’ll find it worth it!
The rain has been both regular and sometimes relentless this year, and so the river that runs by the front of our home is higher than its normal spring levels. Usually this time of year it is so low the floor of the island across from our house is visible. This year, it’s under water. Almost overnight all the maples on the island turned red, despite the turn being still weeks off for the rest of the trees around us. The first time this happened, I felt so sad, still not ready for autumn—even if it is my favorite season—because it meant that winter was barreling at us quickly. But then one year I realized that instead of viewing it as an early fall, I could view it as a longer fall, since the island leaves still don’t drop until late September anyway. This year, save for the brilliant green river willows bowing over the shoreline, the entire island is already awash in gold and red.
Yesterday Nate and I sat next to one another on the porch scrolling through our phones and suddenly I realized on Labor Day it would be three years since we’ve called The Little River Cottage home, and the cusp of our fourth autumn. But, which is more, it is the first time we’ve lived somewhere for three years and not been actively planning an imminent move elsewhere.
When we moved here we promised one another 3-5 years here in the hopes that after that time period we would be so settled we wouldn’t think of moving. I can honestly say that despite regular dreams of vanlife or long roadtrips or (my current obsession) walking the Camino de Santiago, we are so happily settled here on the banks of a river in our small college town. The past three years have been some of the most difficult of our interpersonal lives and some of the most stressful for both of our careers, but what we have gained in stability and a sense of grounded spirituality and a centeredness in Jesus alone has been worth it. When the relationships and institutions you thought would last forever aren’t accessible in the same ways they have been, you learn to cling to the One who doesn’t change.
As we head toward my favorite of the seasons, with a schedule jam-packed with a few camping weekends, visiting friends from afar, a few surgeries between the two of us, a weekend retreat at Laity Lodge, a retreat with three of my favorite writing co-laborers (Sara Billups from
& ), and a trip to Israel (we still have a few spots left and I would LOVE if you were with us!), I am still so happy to be right here, right now.