Fall has always been our favorite season. The weather is so nice here, football is back on T.V. We can start making all those cold weather dishes like chili, homemade vegetable soup, chicken and dumplings. We can go to the local orchard and pick apples for apple pie. We love to decorate the house for fall and Halloween. We love just about everything about fall. Whats not to like. And even better is the fact that this year Mike is not in a hospital, he's back home to enjoy all of it with me again. Even our wedding date that sadly didn't happen was to be at the end of October last year. I could go on and on about all the things we enjoy about the fall.

There have been some days this year when even the smell in the air will remind me of last year, traveling back and forth from the hospital, not knowing if he was going to make it or not, not knowing how much he would recover and every time a rush of memories comes over me I just think to myself thank God he is here this year because last year I didn't know if he would be. It makes me cry now just thinking about it. But I don't think about the fact that the anniversary of the strokes happens to be in the fall as much as I think about how much we love this time of year and how glad I am that we can still enjoy it together.

Tina