I love the fall, specifically October. I love the crisp air, the changing colors, the crunch of leaves underfoot and sweaters that still the shivers.

It always signals a time of change to me, however big or small.  Like the beginning of the school year or a New Years resolution, autumn seems  to awaken in me a keen sense of the possible.

It is no coincidence, in my mind, that I had my first date with my husband in October, married him on an October afternoon eight years later, and conceived both of my children in October.

Now here it is October once again and the feelings of change are stirring as the wind is blowing. The 'how' and whys are not as important as the 'what nows' and 'why nots'.

Believing that perhaps too much introspection can rot the soul, I have come to a conclusion. With all this stuff swirling about inside me I will choose to embrace it. I can't say exactly what it is I am welcoming into my life, because it is all puffs and vapors and whispers too soft to hear.

Maybe that is God's way of telling me not to be frightened of change, or maybe it is the desire to do things outside my comfort zone.

As I shared with a friend recently,  I think that the things about us creative types is we just tick differently from other clocks and require a different maintenance program.

That has made me realize a lot about myself, most notably how I haven't always respected this gift for writing. That is chief among the changes I am committed to making in my life.