It's become our post-school ritual to play outside for an hour after the kids get off the bus, from approximately 4-5 pm. The kids have a picnic snack, practice their kung fu, climb bushes, run obstacle courses, play in their homemade branch shelter, "cook" with mud and berries, run up the slide, swing on the playset, perform musicals, "excavating" the boulders like archaeologists, really whatever they dream up. I like playing with them, when they ask. I like watching them play, while I walk back and forth deep in thought (or not). I like our unstructured outdoor time, the perfect antidote to an 8-hour day at school. After our hour, by dusk, we head inside for homework and dinner. But today, there were no rays of light touching our yard when they got off the bus; it was dusk already. By 5 pm, it looked like this:
Sure, it was extra-fun tonight to watch the moon rise before dinner, but soon, it'll look like this almost immediately after they get home. And our happy, go-lucky, creative outdoor freeplay will be on hiatus until spring.
Just another reason I don't like "fall back."
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