Rise and Shine, Harvest Moon

Maybe it’s the harvest moon.

Or maybe it’s our close encounter with Jupiter.

Then again, perhaps it’s just what happens when a dad smiles and piles his kids into an old pickup truck and takes them to the Pumpkin Walk.

Ryan and Tanner were excited all week.

Their elementary school puts on a special show every fall.

For weeks the teachers and kids in each class put together a pumpkin patch of sorts. With various themes of building character, or helping others, or being a good friend—they decorate pumpkins to look like pirates, s’mores, dogs and cats, flowers, knights, and everything in between.

You know when a little kid is so excited he just can’t stop talking about it? When he jumps out of the truck and walking is out of the question and only a skipping, arms-flailing run will do?

When your son keeps urging you to Go faster Dad, go faster!

As if the Pumpkin Walk might simply vanish in the autumn mist.

So I ran.

And somehow the cosmic convergence of a super harvest moon on the day of autumn equinox—and Jupiter swinging ‘round for its closest look at Earth in 47 years—is just the right moment for a Pumpkin Walk.

My artsy Natalie—hair blowing in the wind—is so beautiful to me.

My sweet Emily—looking like a young Gwyneth Paltrow—has no idea how pretty she is.

Ryan and Tanner pull and tug at me, pressing me to move faster so I can see their pumpkins—then after spying the donuts for sale suddenly declare themselves hungry.

So what’s a dad to do but buy some donuts and pop?

Arriving back home the boys immediately jump on their bikes—oblivious to the fading light.

Fifteen years ago Lori spotted a rusted little Schwinn at a yard sale in Pennsylvania. So I took it all apart and Lori sanded it down and we painted it shiny red and put the thing back together again.

At the time it was for Jason, who was 4 years old. Since then, every one of our kids has ridden it…except for Tanner, our youngest.

He had watched Ryan riding it but flatly refused to even try “that pedal bike.”

But I figured he could be tempted by his own shiny “new” bike. So I answered an ad in the classifieds and bought him an old Schwinn just like Ryan’s.

He hasn’t gone a day without riding it since.

So rise and shine, harvest moon—swing low, sweet Jupiter.

Autumn’s here and it feels mighty fine.