Muted Pumpkin Palette and Thoughts on Changing Seasons

I must confess I'm not a huge fan of orange. I mean, I love color. I love all the shades, hues, and tones. I love how it changes in the light and how it can change our outlook. I love each and every color. Except orange.

Like having a favorite student in a class, or a least favorite pet, I felt a little bad about my attitude towards orange. I mean, it's never done anything to hurt me. Except assault my corneas. But it's not Orange's fault; it can't help that it's so... orange.

So I set out to create a fall color palette that even an orange-averse person like me could love. It turns out that if you dial down the brightness of the orange, and supplement it with lots of cool complimentary colors, it makes a great color combo.

Muted Pumpkin Palette

Ahh, much better. This color experiment reminds me that often it's the shades of what we see that make the difference. If you take everything at a full saturation level, life can be a bit jarring. Maybe just tone it down a little to bring out the nuances and you have the making of a beautiful palette. And a beautiful life.

It's Not What You See but How You See it.

I was reminded of the power of perception when I was driving around yesterday in the beautiful fall foliage. It was a cool crisp day and the breeze was liberating the leaves from their trees, and I was stuck in traffic. Again.

I do a lot of driving every day to get both my kids to and from their separate schools. And then to practices. And the store. And then youth group. You know, typical mom taxi stuff.

Yesterday I was bemoaning my current fate of traffic whisperer when the falling leaves reminded me of changing seasons. I started counting the months till my oldest can start driving herself. And then her sister! What will I do with all my new-found freedom?

Blissfully I contemplated all the things I could accomplish with an extra 2-3 hours in the day. Maybe I'll write a book. Or solve world hunger. Or organize that drawer in the kitchen that everything got dumped into when we moved three years ago.

And then I realized how little time I'll have with my kids once we're not driving together. I started thinking about all the conversations that are somehow easier to tackle when mom is facing forward instead of staring into your soul. All the conversations I get to overhear between my kids because they think the back seat is a cone of silence. All the deep questions of life sprinkled in between questions of homework plans and missing mittens.

Like the end of Summer, Fall will come. The heat will break, the leaves will fall, and life will move on towards a new year. Like the bittersweet of falling leaves, seasons change and that is good. But for this mama's heart it's also a little sad.

While I won't miss the endless driving, I'll miss the captive audience. It may not always be "quality time" but soon I know I'll be wishing for any time at all with my kids. I can't stop it from happening, but I can choose to live in the moment and appreciate what I have now, instead of wishing it away like an inconvenient traffic light.

Happy Fall

So happy Fall everyone! Embrace the changing seasons. Enjoy your pumpkin spice lattes and candy corn, and if your kids are still young enough to trick-or-treat, count your blessings while counting the candy haul!