Blink, It’s Fall by Tracey Bianchi, mom of three

I blinked. That was my mistake. My lids kissed one another in that way they do some 20,000 times per day. I blinked. Crushed my mascara-laden lashes into one another for a nanosecond and opened them to notice a yellow Aspen leaf quaking on my neighbor’s tree. I blinked and the sun slipped into my yard an hour earlier than it did in June. The aisle at Target once boasting goggles and sun block now peddles pencils. As summer days surrender to fall, many of us lament the loss flip flops. Ready or not, we are careening toward autumn. For many of us this season brings mixed emotion, the joy of routines recaptured or perhaps an uneasy feeling. Some of us sending children off to preschool or elementary school for the first time — or perhaps our first ever “Mommy & Me” class just started.

"It takes the same time
to crack a smile
as it does to blink."

New classes, schools and endeavors for our children mean that us moms are new on the block too — not one of those seasoned, seemingly calloused moms in the corner whose ease we secretly envy. Nope, many of us are the rookies. The ones desperate for a smile and kind word. The mom who does not know the routine about where to hang jackets or park for pick up. 

We need a friend to show us grace. Will it be you? Me? As you wade through the wonder of fall and lament the speed with which summer melted, take a moment to look around at the women in your new circles. Who are they? Do they need a smile or a warm greeting? Do you need this from one of them?

It takes the same time to crack a smile as it does to blink. A moment, ever so brief yet ever so needed. Moms around us need connections every day. May our fall routines include the giving and receiving of friendship to those moms around us. We are all in this together, let’s embrace one another along the way.
 

Dear God, help me be a woman who gives grace and friendship, and help me find connections for my soul in my everyday community.

Tracey Bianchi is the author of Mom Connection: Creating Vibrant Relationships in the Midst of Motherhood, the MOPS theme book for 2012-13. Connect with her at www.traceybianchi.com.