Avery has definitely been bit by the acting bug!

This is my daughter Avery who is 10 years old as "WALL" in the summer production of A Midsummer Night's Dream .

Missouri Autumn

Over the years as friends I grew up with have moved in and out of Missouri I notice they all become homesick for one thing... Missouri's Autumn. Now I myself lived out of the state of Missouri for about 5 years ,I lived in Kansas... which you would think wouldn't be to terribly different than Missouri in the fall. As I have gotten older and moved back to Missouri I realized it is not just the Missouri Fall we miss but the way of life in these small Missouri river towns during this season that we miss. Yes, the leaves become brilliant here in Boonville but put those leaves with the backdrop of an old victorian house you have admired since you were 4 years old and it is breath-taking. Watching children shuffle through the leaves on their walk home from school, a school you attended a walk you yourself made many years before regularly is oddly comforting in this world of chaos and uncertainty.
I don't know how many times in my life I have heard people utter the cliched line of "The best things in life are free" but sitting here at the age of 31 living in the town I grew up with it seems to ring true and the approach of fall in my lazy river town makes me take a moment to appreciate the life lessons in unintentionally taught me.
So I will savor this fall once again. I will continue to be excited to run home after I get off work and play in the leaves with my children, prepare Halloween decorations with them, and find the most awesome pumpkin patch and of course pick the 3 most perfect pumpkins.
I will not take for granted the absolute perfection of sitting curled up in my reading chair by my favorite window listening to the leaves rustle and the crisp breeze blow over my cheek. I will embrace it, savor it and remember these feelings on the days that I think I can't quite stand being cooped up in this small town anymore. Happy Fall everyone!