chai

For the first time in a while, I have been able to order a chai. The air is getting crisper. My mornings begin with touching the windows to reference the temperature. My nights end with Gilmore Girls. The scalding Texas heat is gone, and it has been replaced with a cool breeze and people wearing sweaters. 

I can listen to the Lumineers and Neil Young and Lord Huron and Fleet Foxes and Iron and Wine. I can sit outside, one with the breeze, only feeling a gentle touch from the sun. The funny thing to me is that I have never liked fall before, but not for any particular reason. It just was the in-between moment after summer and before winter. Yet, for the first time in my life, I can say that fall might just be my favorite. 

While the leaves are still green in Texas, there is a peace in knowing that sooner or later, they will change. They will metamorphose into warmer hues of yellow and orange and red. They will fall from the branches, and a short six months later, they will grow again. This time with flowers or fruit to join. They just need time. 

I have learned that people watching in the fall is the best. Couples walk a little closer to one another. The laughter from friends getting coffee echoes from the opposite side of the fountain. People bask in the sunlight and the fleeting warmth of Texas summer. People read in the swings. They walk with their heads up, observing the beauty of the world around them. It is an interesting thing to do, people watch. 

Time seems to slow. We can rest. Rom coms become the regular. When Harry Met Sally is on repeat. Candles are burning. Coffee is brewing. There is a closeness of the fall. A proximity to the people you love is evident, although I have never seemed to notice it.  There are more texts to catch up. More calls to have a dance party or movie night. There is romance that lies within the breeze. Something between you and the breeze. And I think I have grown to love this in-between season. 

I think that the fall time is truly full of falling. Falling in love. Maybe falling apart. Falling down. Yet, just like the leaves on the trees, we grow. We change and come back full of nutrients. We rest and learn and fall in love with our Creator. Our colors change with Him and the work He does within us. Even with the lack of Texas heat, silver is refined. We go away for a bit and dwell within the closeness of our Father. And He changes us. We learn that we don’t need the heat for life, but the nutrients from the root. And then, He brings what once was dead back to life. I think that is the beauty or the fall. It is a continual cycle of purification and renewal. A constant cycle of love and rest and closer proximity to the things we love most. The things that we long for.  (plus some people watching, too.)

I don't think I have ever been so grateful for a chai.

a revolving disc as of recently:

snow on the beach : taylor swift

harvest moon : lord huron (cover of neil young)

didn’t you : baerd

oklahoma smokeshow : zach bryan

love is an accident : flyte

holocene : bon iver

kingston : faye webster

there she goes : the la’s

fade into you : mazzy star 

smaller acts : zach bryan

wait by the river : lord huron

maroon : taylor swift

about you : the 1975

dont think twice, its all right : bob dylan

high tops : del water gap 

deep satin : zach bryan 

flowers in your hair : the lumineers

each coming night : iron and wine

all my love : noah kahan 

lover of the light : mumford & sons

falling in love at a coffee shop : landon pigg

the last time : taylor swift 

if you need to, keep time on me : fleet foxes