The best kept secret about Texas

This morning, I woke up very late.  Tanner and Jonathan had made Kate's breakfast and most of her lunch.  I'm not sure how I manged to sleep through all of the noise.  It might have had to do with the fact that both Georgie and Reagan ended up in our bed last night.  Anyway, I woke up late.  I did manage to pack the chocolate pudidng, fruit snacks and apple into her lunch box.  I was going to let Tanner take Kate to school because it's on his way to his class, but I decided to quickly get Georgie and Reagan ready because I wanted to do some fabric shopping.

For the harvest party this year, we were thinking of dressing our entire family up as "Silver Bells", and I wanted to find some cheap fabric to see if this idea I had would work.

So, I got the little ones ready and myself ready, and hustled them outside.  I came to an exultant, abrupt stop on our front porch, and slowly took a deep breath.  A light breeze was rustling the grass, the hibiscus was blooming in vibrant reds, a faint smell of salt wafted along and I had a deep longing for the sand and the waves.  It was a balmy 78.  I couldn't help but fall in love with Texas all over again.  Who cares about six weeks of 100 degree weather, when the rest of the year is just like this?  This is the time of barbecues and potlucks, of picnics and harvest dances.  I'm curious to see what a pumpkin patch will feel like when we don't have to wear scarves and mittens and worry about the kids being too cold during the hay ride.  I can't wait to bundle up the kids in hats and gloves because it's 68 degrees out and just too cold.

Yes, this is the secret time-- the time to linger on the front porch to exchange greetings with our neighbors or dawdle on the corner with the trash bag and wave to the kids on the school bus or even pause at the trunk of the car before unloading groceries to find out what the neighbor next door is cooking up for dinner.  This is when we soak in the gentle breezes, experience the better parts of southern hospitality and pass from our time into another time when things moved more slowly and people were people not numbers or cars or jobs.