My Favorite Day of the Year

My favorite day of the year is always the same.  It's been the same since I was 3 years old.  Maybe I was four.  I remember the day it became my favorite day.  I had been at school and the weather changed.  I couldn't wait to get home.  I remember going out in our backyard as soon as possible.  I climbed onto our big ole picnic table my dad had built.  I danced.  And probably sang.  I twirled with my arms out.  I am 90% sure I was wearing a dress.  On that day, I fell in love with fall.  That was the first time I knew my favorite day of the year.

Every year since then, the first day the wind changed from dreadful scorching wind on the Sahara to crisp, breezy fall wind, I remember the time I danced on the picnic table because it was fall.  Growing up, I have countless memories sitting on the porch swing in my childhood home on this day.  If I had homework, I always did it outside on this day.  If I was lucky, I read a book, probably Little House on the Prairie.

I remember the first fall day when we moved to Algiers, LA when I was in high school.  That time I just sat on a rocking chair and watched the big, huge Spanish Oaks sway in the wind, and thought about how wonderful life is.

I remember the first fall day of college, and I was actually excited to get up for my 9:30 English class.  Not excited enough to NOT go in my pajamas however.

And the best first fall day was in 2004 when I moved to Denton.  I had gone to church that morning, heard Tommy talk for the first time, and that was the day I became a Christian.  That was the day I finally gave up the fight, because I was one of those people who fought being a Christian pretty hard.  I suppose it was fitting that it happen on such a day, because there is no other day of the year I love more.  And on that day more than any other, my little 3 year old self danced around in celebration.

This year is no different.  I am so thankful for fall, for the countless memories of myself as a little girl, and an older girl that flood me, for the reminder that some days you gotta dance and sing your heart out because life is good, because God never lets the desert heat scorch you forever.  And once your done thanking God because HE is Good, you have to have a pumpkin spice latte.... Can't wait for those to be out!