In late August, my daughter—who is on the cusp of driving—and my husband convinced me to trade my sensible sedan in for a used Jeep. They are a persuasive duo and I now have a couple of ducks on my dash and am trying to remember to wave. It’s not a fancy vehicle, but it is fun, and it’s a daily reminder to me to savor my days just a little bit more.

If the weather is nice and his meetings are done for the day, Andy and I knock off early and go together to pick our girl up from high school and head straight to Green Mountain. At 3:40 we are sitting in school traffic but by 3:52 the wind is blowing in our hair and the canopy of leaves is whooshing overhead.

Sometimes we bring a picnic (that teenage metabolism!) and sit at the tables before walking around the lake. Our son flew the coop two years early, to pursue an out-of-state educational opportunity, and we won’t be caught off guard again. We’ve got less than 16 months of school pickup before this chapter of our lives closes forever.

The natural beauty around Huntsville, especially Green and Monte Sano Mountains, is one of the things that I am most grateful for when I think about living in this area. I know that they barely qualify as mountains (especially if you’ve moved here from the West), but retreating to their trails is a lovely way to take a great big exhale without leaving the city limits.

I’m grateful to our readers for following along this year. Thank you for sending us your news, for reading and subscribing, and for advertising in the Huntsville Business Journal and its sister publication, EVENT magazine.

I appreciate the hard work of our staff writers. Each of them brings their unique voice and perspective to the Journal and none of this would work without their efforts.

Thanks to Todd and Carolyn Stephenson, the owners of the paper, for the way they tirelessly shine a spotlight on this community and its people.

Happy Thanksgiving, Huntsville, and thank you so much for reading!

Warmly,

Sarah Zupko, Editor

(Post script: I wrote this in October, before the time change. The gates to the Green Mtn. walking trail now close at 4:30 p.m. Trough Springs, on Monte Sano, is a good weekday morning alternative, if you can get away.)