Fall: A Love Letter

I just love the smell in the air of fall mornings. In the coolness, the smell of drying pine needles and leaves is not lost. No matter what kind of frenzy with which I approach my front door, it is ultimately swept away in the cool morning. I am reminded to breathe in the present and appreciate nature’s perfection. Because in a few short hours, it’ll be warm and downtown will smell like hot dogs and the hustle of summertime will be alive and well. At this time, both seasons exist within the same day, lending itself to a smooth transition.

It’s been a full summer. Work was surprisingly busy and mentally taxing. I did my best each day to keep afloat, but there were several times that I found myself stress eating donuts in the break room (my least favorite way to consume them) and bemoaning the existence of problems to my husband. Why can’t it just be easy?? Because, it just can’t.

When I couldn’t take the heat of life, I was lucky to enjoy a reprieve and the beach. And in August my whole family went to the lake together, which was the first family trip we’ve gotten to share in a few years. We had the best time doing nothing on $1.00 floats and eating homemade desserts.

I also really, really loved watching season two of Fleabag. The whit of that show had me laughing until I cried and had trouble breathing. I had to pause episode two for a solid five minutes to get all the laughter out and wipe my eyes before I could resume the show. It’s just nice to feel like a show understands you, a complete stranger, enough to cater to your humor and make you die laughing. I also had this experience with my husband one night, who came home and made a joke. I was slightly tipsy which made the humor even more exaggerated. Hours later, still smiling at the memory, I told him that I felt like I had opened a gift of happiness from the universe: like a full-on, wrapped up gift that I got to open and be delighted by its contents. Sometimes, life can be better than easy; it can be fun.

At summer’s close, I am looking forward to rotating out the clothes in my son’s dresser. Nothing is more poignant to me than handling the pieces of clothing my loved ones wear. I can be found smelling and touching the clothes in my grandmother’s closet, and I revere laundry as the easiest of all the household chores. When the season changes, I happily get out the hand-me-downs gifted to us by generous friends and carefully select and organize the dresser drawers. It is simple, and so it is blissful. 

I’m looking forward to a fall beach trip (a marvelous display of weather), attending two dear friend’s weddings (and getting dressed to impress with my man!), and enjoying the Third Annual Fall Brunch (we skipped year two, however) with my best friends.

At the conclusion of this love letter I realize that I have some pretty strong feelings for life. I didn’t know that I was so fond of fall until I wrote it all out, but here it is: I love you, fall, but not for the reasons you might think. Fall encourages my sentimentality by softening the edges of harsh blows and reminding me to breathe deeper and to love better.