5:30 am

I always wonder how it all happens so fast?  Every season, every year, every week.  Time passes without me noticing.  All the sudden the summer is ending and it's time for school to start, for Mitch to be home (thank goodness), for leaves to change, for it to be cool enough to eat butternut squash soup.    Yesterday I woke up at 5:30 am to run with Beth.  I stepped outside and even though it was still a billion degrees, oh the humidity, it was dark and the sun was rising.  The city is perfectly quiet in the mornings.  There are no tourists, just other runners, bikers, and walkers starting their day.  I don't know their thoughts, but I know for me running is my solace.  It's the time when I clear my head, wake up my body, and find the time to contemplate all the little details of my life.  Running is completely selfish for me.  Yesterday morning, the first sign of fall showed itself to me.  The sky was splattered with pink, the sun was just rising, bikers had their lights on along the Mount Vernon trail, and I was so thankful to be running.

Last night as I was riding my bike home past Iwo Jima, along Arlington Cemetery, towards the Memorial Bridge with a perfect picture of the backside of the Lincoln Memorial, and along the edge of the Pentagon Memorial I was again granted the privilege of another sky painted beautifully with splashes of pink and I was overcome with gratitude.  I have finally fallen back in love with DC.  I had to stop, get off my bike, and take it all in.  The weather, the river, the sky, and the lay of the land.  I had to make a memory, that will last, of my summer.