With all that’s unfolding in America and the planet right now, I’ve found it exceedingly difficult to find authentic, useful, helpful words to share. Whether here, in my weekly LüSa Organics emails, or in my various social media channels (speaking of, my new Bluesky account is @lusamama.bsky.social for those making their way there these days) I’m often at a loss for what to say. I have been blogging a bit over on my LüSa Organics Blog and plan to do more there in the coming weeks, so follow along over there if you’re so inclined.

But life chugs along, climate change, political crisis or otherwise.

We age, our children grow and fledge, and the years keeps spinning by, no matter how we cling.

And how lucky we are for the privilege to watch them grow–and to get the chance to grow old ourselves.

And this week I realized that I had left one project undone that spans not only the lifetime of this blog (some 16 or 17 years), but the lifetimes of my kids as well: a project in its very final act.

That, of course, is the final edition of our annual jacket pictures!

Backstory for the newbies: when my son Sage (now 22) turned 1, we dressed him in his dad’s old leather jacket and took his photo, year after year, until the jacket finally fit. We repeated the tradition with Lupine, but with her wearing my Grandma’s fringed buckskin jacket instead. We took photos of them alone and together every autumn. I unapologetically bribed them with ice cream every single year.

And this past November (just four days after the election), Lupine turned 18. We set out just as the fall colors peaked to take our very last round of jacket pictures. Her stepping into adulthood felt like the simultaneous closing of one door, and the opening of a thousand more.

And just like that, both my my children are no longer children. And after some 23 years, our homeschooling journey will soon come to a close. I’m not sure where my kids will land or who I’ll become around that next bend, but it’s been an honor, privilege, and joy to have poured myself into the cups of their childhoods.

And while it’s an uncertain time to step into adulthood, this generation has so much to teach those of us who’ve come before. And I’m here for it.

Without further ado, Lupine’s last set of jackets pics…