I’ve always loved fall, with its crisp air and its soft sweaters and its warm comfort food. Somehow, though I know it is spring that gets to lay claim to new life, autumn has always meant freshness, newness to me. Perhaps it’s the way we structure our lives – in general, activities and programs tend to wind down in May and begin again in September. Growing up, September meant a new school year and new clothes and shiny new notebooks and pencils and lunchboxes. It meant an end to the long, lazy days of summer and a renewal of purpose and learning. It meant turning a corner, starting fresh.

And so it seems appropriate to begin this new blog as the first days of fall are on the horizon, as the days shorten and the weather threatens to turn. It is fitting, as I embark on a new stage of life (or, more accurately, an old stage, revisited unexpectedly), to have a new space for writing and reflection.

May I use this space well. May I make the most of this fresh start. May it help me (and, hopefully, you, dear reader, whomever you may be) to choose, this moment, to love and to serve and to hope, to choose this moment to be fully alive.