28

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Today, the air is filled with the intoxicating smells of autumn-piles of leaves making puffs of smoke, and the cool breeze carrying it softly through the open windows. There are corn and soybean fields turning the shade of yellow that means big combines will be out to harvest soon. Caramel apples, cider, and pumpkins are piling up high on the store shelves. Hay is being rolled into large bales in otherwise large stretches of empty ground. The nights are coming a little earlier and growing a bit colder. The mornings are taking a little longer to wake us up.

It's September. And today, it's my birthday.

And I love it- the whole season, and this day, too. Some people have told me they like spring the best, because there are so many new things. But autumn has always been my favorite, because there are new things now, too. There are those first days of throwing open every window in the house. It's a time to push through to the back of closets and find those cozy blankets we love or the pajamas we haven't worn for months. It's buying new boots or a warm sweater. It's hayrides and bonfires, hot cider and leaves like confetti everywhere, colored in the most beautiful golds and reds you've ever seen. 

September may be the closing of summer, but it's the beginning of fall. It's the time of year where the clock flips one more number for me, and I practice saying a new age when I'm asked. It's a year full of things I haven't done or said, and there are possibilities I don't even know of yet. 

In some ways, I'm not where I hoped to be at 28 years old. But in other ways- the ways that matter most- I'm exactly where I hoped to be. Though I (hopefully) have many more birthdays ahead, I can be thankful for what I hold in my hands as I greet this year- a marriage that has prevailed through more than a lot of people could handle. An incredibly handsome husband who loves me. A picture perfect daughter who couldn't be smarter or lovelier. Dreams. Plans. New boots for chilly days. And a million other little blessings that make up this little life.

Last year, I felt defeated thinking about where I was and all I hadn't done. I'm not in that place now. Whatever happens, and whatever doesn't- it's okay.

So hello, 28. It's good to see you. I can't wait to see what you bring.

*And I can't wait to continually brag to my 30 year old husband that I'm still in my 20s and oh-so-young.