Enough Said.

-Autumn Story Mott

Traditions | Cape Cod

      We all have traditions. Some may be small, like always having hot cocoa on Christmas morning, or maybe your family always has a cook out on Labor Day weekend.

     Our biggest tradition is going down to Cape Cod sometime in September with a group of friends. It's been a get-together for over 30 years now. I've been going for as long as I can remember. My favorite part about it, is that it's always the same. I can give you an overview of the weekend right now:

-Most everyone arrives Friday night,

-Sticky Buns made by Meme Howes for breakfast,

-Around 11AM we all head over to Head of the Meadow beach- some on bikes and the rest drive,

-Most all the bikers do the 4 mile round trip bike trail next to the beach,

-We hang out on the beach 'till 2:30, or until we're all hungry,

-Haystacks for lunch, then we all chill around the campfire pit,

-Rush over to Herring Cove to watch the sunset,

-Build a fire on the beach and roast hotdogs and marshmallows,

-Return to camp around 9PM

-More Sticky Buns for breakfast, then we all pack up,

-Go shopping in P-Town, maybe climb the tower,

-Return to the campground for lunch.

     For the most part it's always is like that. I like it; you always know what's happening next. It's consistent. But just recently, my father decided that he no longer liked "the same old routine" and so he was put "in charge" of directing the weekend. While not much changed, it made for a good laugh! But we had fun and we're all looking forward to next year. 

-Autumn Story Mott

Road Trips in the Middle of Nowhere

     Since we live in the middle of nowhere, we always add in extra time when we go somewhere. No, not because of the usual problems, like cows blocking the dirt road, or getting stuck behind a tractor on Main Street, but because of our community:

-Stopping to say "Hi" to the farmer down the road as he rotates the cows to the orchard pasture,
-Chatting a minute with the young family up the road as they're out in their yard with their horses and toddlers,
-Slowing down to wave at the couple who walk the the roads picking up trash- just 'cause they care,
-Pulling over to "harass" a neighbor about coming to get his "junk" out of our back lot,
-Slowing down as we pass a empty house to remember the family that lived there,
-Taking the time to enjoy the beauty that we're driving through, instead of pounding down a highway at 65mph.

-Autumn Mott

The Upside of Down

So I've been counting down the days until the album "The Upside of Down" by Chris August came out.  Today was the day!  By 11am I was downloading it from iTunes.  I listened through it once while I was working, then replayed a few favorites.  An hour or so later, I was getting ready to mow the lawn.  I hit play on my iPod and started mowing.  A little over halfway through the yard the title song came on.  I had already heard it twice, so I just continued on without paying it much attention.  Then the acoustic version came on.  Usually, I'm upset when my iPod's shuffle messes up like that, but as it was a new song, I just let it go.  Then I started listening to the lyrics.

"Funny how we figure out where happiness is found,

In the midst of this sadness I’m closer to You now

And that’s the upside of down,"

He's talking about that when you're up, life's going great, you kinda put God to the side.  The downside of up.  But when life takes a sharp turn downwards, you suddenly turn and cling to Him.  The upside of down.

Boom.  Story of my life.  I stopped for a second in the middle of the lawn; thinking.  That was exactly the wake-up call I needed.  

"You are more in my less, 
You are strength in my weakness,
I’ll never go back again,

And then Your sunshine ends the rain,

and I return to my old ways,

Why am I a fair weather friend?"

I went from laughing at the breach of grammatical rules, to doing some serious thinking.

-Autumn Mott

Life in the middle of no-where...

What does living in the middle of no-where mean to me?

-It means looking around and all you can see are trees,
-Watching the stars with no street lights to spoil the night,
-Waking up to the birds singing at dawn,
-All the vehicles have 4x4 and it's used 75% of the year,
-Knowing that it's officially spring when you hear the peepers calling from the pond,
-The nearest Walmart is 20 minutes away,
-When you walk down the dirt road you know almost everyone who drives past,
-Watching your neighbor's huge bonfire at night, knowing full well they don't have a permit for it,
-Breaking through the snowbank to get onto the road; cause, while the main road is plowed, your road won't be done till second-to-last,
-Walking to the old town library that's only open 2 days a week,
-Sitting down for breakfast and realizing that the milk came from up the road, the eggs from your chickens, the strawberries from another neighbor, and you made the granola yourself.

That's my life - and I love it.


-Autumn Mott

The amazing English language...

Lijah: "Autumn, took me upstairs now."
Me: "Lij, it's 'take me upstairs' and you should add 'please' to that sentence."
Lijah: "Why?"
Nana: "Because 'take' is proper English."
Lijah: "Huh?"

Oh joy.  Grammar lessons.  Even I, a wannabe English Major, still have trouble with that.

*Handing a plate to Lijah*
Me: "Lij, you just took this plate."
*Reaching for the plate*
"Now I'm gonna take the plate."
Lijah: "Huh?"

Sigh.  This is gonna be a long day.

Letters

So yeah, I took a long break from blogging.  But the truth was, that I needed the time usually spent on either of my blogs to be spent growing my relationship with God.  While I knew He was with me, I still felt distant.  But one day as I was writing a letter in my notebook (yes, I write letters to people that they will never see) I decided to try writing one to God.  To my surprise, I filled the entire page.  Woah.  It felt good to put down in words what was floating around in my heart/brain.  (<--- yeah, I know, they're connected...)  So then I wrote another letter the next day, then a few days after that, and before I knew it, I had a habit formed.  2 months later - yesterday - I sat down and reread them.  It was so cool to see how God had changed my life in those past weeks.  There were letters where whole sentences were written in CAPS, others where teardrop stains wrinkled the page.  But then there were letters of joy and happiness.  In just 2 months my life had been flipped upside down.  But it was for the better.  My relationship with God grew in ways I never thought possible.  I found comfort reading the Psalms and Proverbs.  When I found a verse that I loved, I would write in in my notebook, then ask God how it applied to my life.  Over time I was shown the answers.  

-Autumn Mott