Winter Is Upon Us - What Happened to the Fall?

Yes, we are winding down 2009 and will soon be heading into the holiday season. The NFL is full swing and the NBA just started the regular season. Baseball is winding down with only one playoff series remaining, albeit an important one to this Yankees fan. How did all this happen so fast? It seems like just yesterday I was looking at Carolina's basketball schedule for January and thinking it's going to be a long year. I guess the old adage about time passing faster as you get older has a ring of truth to it for me today.

Why so melancholy you might ask? I don't know to be honest. I just can't put my finger on it. Things are great at the office. I love the job and I'm working with an amazing group of folks, all of whom are brighter and younger than me. Hmmmmm. Could that be it? No, at my age, everyone is brighter and younger!

Perhaps today's cover picture provides a hint. After all, my Ellie is now in middle-school. She is in 6th grade, but that can't be because just yesterday we put her on the bus for her first day of 1st grade. She has grown so much over the past five years and pretty soon she won't be my little girl any longer. She will be this young woman who will no longer want to hang out with Dad on the couch in the evening. Of course, that is the dilemna that every Dad eventually faces, but perhaps because I see it happening so clearly I'm letting it hit my age meter a just bit too hard. Hmmmmmmmm. No, it's not really that either, although it's clearly an influence.

So, what is it that makes the end of a year so difficult? It can't be the impending onset of the holiday season since it is my favorite time of the year. I love the idea of wearing sweaters and taking long drives to places where the leaves are changing and painting the sky with wonderful colors and amazing scenary. I love sitting outside during the cool evenings, although I must admit there are times when I think that would be so much more enjoyable if I could have a smoke while I'm there. Oh well, that's never going to happen again. Hopefully!

Okay, so I don't know exactly what's up with me and my current mood, but I do know that it isn't really bad or sad or negative. It is just this sense of passing that seems to be haunting me at the moment. It's as if I missed something or I forgot something!

Anyway, I'll figure it out eventually. Meanwhile, I'm back and thinking about how I need to post everyday from now on if I really want to have a viable blog. I also purchased a new camera and plan to take even more photo's for the blog, so all good news ahead!