Leaves have begun to flutter to the ground signaling the season is about to change.

I look forward to the seasonal changes in Mississippi. They are just long enough to make you ready for the next.

However, even though I am looking forward to fall and the cooler temperatures in life, change is not something I run to embrace.

I am a creature of habit, and change is a concept that has never been easy for me to receive.

I am not sure what it is about my personality that causes me to be content with routine, but I like it.

In fact, there were times I have held on so tight to the past, you could see the claw marks my fingernails left behind.

I hate to admit it, but there were even times I used crying and screaming and gnashing of teeth to try to retrieve my past.

I have deducted the reason behind my actions.  It is the fear of the unknown.

Not knowing what is going to occur can be quite anxiety provoking.

Then there are those who know how to embrace change as a new adventure, and they can even accept it as a gift.

I believe my husband is one of those free souls.

He looks at life as one big quest after another, and I feel sure he would crumble if his world did not offer new challenges.

I have to admit, I am a little jealous of him and those folks that embrace change.

I wish my brain would jump up and down with excitement over an unscheduled event or the opportunity to try something new if it occurs. Life would be so much easier, and let’s face it, change is inevitable.

Friends move away, jobs change, children grow up, and loved ones die.

Change is hard, and even though it has delivered unexpected happiness and love in my life, it is ironic I still struggle with the concept.

So where does that leave me?

I guess I am just one of those people who will just have to work a little harder when it comes to embracing things changing.

I became a mother when I was 23 years old, and for more than three decades, children have been living in my home. Next spring, my fourth child will graduate from high school and leave to go to college.

Thirty-three years of being a hands-on mom has been a large chunk of my life, and the change that is sitting just around the corner for me is daunting on some days.

But that change is going to come, and I am hopeful I will eventually learn to find the next phase of my life rewarding.

Who knows, maybe once I get used to being an empty nester, I will start to look forward to change just as I am longing for the long hot summer days to change into the cool evenings of fall.