There’s a brook trickling beneath my feet. The sun is dropping like a stone, taking the days warmth in its clutches. Two young deer are lapping at the cold water across the stream. Thirteen mosquitoes are thinning my blood and the closing of a season is at hand. Not only the greatest season of them all but a sizable chapter in my life shuts along with it. I’m ready for the new; for the now.

I’m ready for the sleep to be wiped from my eyes. I’m ready to be revitalized and renewed. I’m ready for nature to take its course. I’m ready for unmade decisions to work themselves out. I’m ready for a lifetime of sobriety; there is no joy left in the opposite. I’m ready for ongoing health in the household; I rebuke sickness, death and disease.

As the days grow shorter and the nights get colder the fire in me burns brighter. The lazy days of summer are over and though it was a good one, the idea of the changing of seasons feels right. Much work laid out to be done and with joy I begin the journey.

With the past 10 weeks off of work I have aligned my inner workings for the first time in forever. My ways of thinking and processing have changed. My body takes more healthy punishment and heals faster being in the gym 5 days a week. My patience level with my children as well as others in my life has improved. I have clarity now where, for years before this time, I did not.

The summer has passed and with it the old ways rot. There’s a new path unfolding and its windings will be incredible. Similar to other lifes journeys but away from the familiar and away from the poison of the past. We can’t go back and we can’t stand still. The path is long but we forge ahead. It’s all we ever do.