Oh God, summer began yesterday. So why is the air and light already changing? Why are golden leaves starting to pop from trees like dinner guests arriving too soon? I want to tell them to wait in the car while I fix my hair and make-up.
Ready or not, autumn is here. The light is lessening. Days are shorter. We survived last winter, enjoyed a resplendent spring, a gorgeous summer, but now the year’s starting to pack its bags and reserve a bus ticket home.
I both dread and love this season. I dread it because winter’s around the corner, but I love autumn for three big reasons…
The cooler air— I admit, I’m fickle. While I rejoice in the first glorious rays of hot sun, by end of August, I’m ready to move on. I long for crisp sweater weather and sleeping without ten fans and the A/C cranked to maximum and getting into my car without feeling like I’m on fire.
It’s nice to keep windows cracked and burrow under quilts and blankets. It’s nice to sleep deeply and not spend half the night tossing covers on and off. It’s nice to have non-frizzy hair.
The Productivity— I love the “look busy” feel of fall. It reminds me of that tough seventh grade teacher I had who would enter the classroom and everyone sat up straighter. There’s a certain Pavlovian conditioning to the sound of a school bus. I want to buy 3-ring binders and #2 pencils and a fresh pack of highlighters.
I start questioning life and what I’m doing and where I’m going. What are my plans? And how will I get there? And where’s geometry class?
The Poignancy— Fall’s beauty has a doomed quality that makes it both magnificent and heart-breaking. If Spring is sweet Taylor Swift and Summer’s ripe Katie Perry, then Fall is melancholy Billy Holiday, deeper and wiser, a perfect backdrop to those end-of-warm-weather blues.
Fall reminds me that no matter how young and green we all start, everything grows old. There’s something achingly lovely and sad in those swirls of red, gold and yellow leaves that started out so earnestly in April.
I guess I’m in the fall of my own life. In my sixties, I’m no longer spring or summer, but not quite winter either (I think). I’m not sure how I got here since last week I was on one of those school buses and two days ago I was a young mother and the day after that I watched my kids go off to college.
How fast it goes. I’m not sure how and why this happened, but it did and if the clue lies in that crisp air and swirling leaves, they’re not saying.
Ready or not, another fall beckons.
How do you feel about fall? Comments are always welcome and sharing is awesome.
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Diane
Dear Fall,
Please stay a while.
Love, Diane
Laurie Stone
Ha ha! From your lips to God’s ears…
JANEANE M DAVIS
I am also in the fall of my life and finding ways to enjoy it. I love the warmth of summer and never want it to end. My knitting needles disagree and long for sweater weather, so I am reay for fall.
Laurie Stone
Janeane, Good for you to knit! Wish I had that talent, and patience.
Carol Cassara
It’s my absolutely favorite season.
Laurie Stone
Carol, It’s so beautiful and melancholy.
Carol Cassara
Yes, you’ve identified all the coolest characteristics of this season!
Laurie Stone
Carol, Thanks!
Rebecca Forstadt Olkowski
I wish we had more of a fall here. It’s usually the hottest in September but I look forward to cooler days. I’m sad my tomatoes have pooped out.
Laurie Stone
Rebecca, Sorry about the tomatoes! Still, I’ll gladly trade Connecticut for L.A. in January.
Diane
I’m hanging onto autumn with both hands this year. Please, please stay around a while!
I love your description of fall, Laurie. Spot on!
Laurie Stone
Diane, Thanks so much!
Diane
We’re actually HAVING fall this year! It’s been here for a week! We completely missed summer, but maybe it will be made up in golden autumn days. That’s okay with me!
This is an absolutely delightful post, Laurie. One of your best!
“…the year’s starting to pack its bags and reserve a bus ticket home” Makes me all shivery and nostalgic!
Laurie Stone
Diane, Glad you liked it! And enjoy your beautiful autumn.
Haralee
I go kicking and complaining into fall so thanks for the calmer insight into the season!
Laurie Stone
Haralee, A lot of people have mixed feelings about fall, but its beauty overrides the negative, for me.
Karen D Austin
Oh, I love fall. But I have a newly emptied nest, and I’m having a lot of transitional problems — in part because I went back to work full time (but not with benefits or status–I’m part time at two universities). I’m trying to stop and smell the leaf mold now and then. Well, maybe I’ll just view the leaves from the comfort of my car while zigzagging across town to the two campuses. Thanks writing about autumn with attention to the bittersweet quality.
Laurie Stone
Karen, Sounds like you’re busy, indeed! Hope you get a chance to enjoy.
Paula Kiger
Waiting for that productivity part to kick in! Happy Fall.
Laurie Stone
Paula, Yes, it can take a while!
Carol Cassara
Such a different way to view the season…thought provoking, as usual.
Laurie Stone
Carol, Thank you!
Lisa Ricard Claro
Here on Florida’s sunny Gulf coast it still feels like summertime. I grew up in New England, though, and spent the bulk of my adult life in Georgia (north of Atlanta), so I love autumn and all that it entails. The fall days do come sooner and sooner. In my late 50s now I appreciate each season more than ever. And gratitude is a good thing. 🙂
Laurie Stone
Lisa, Gratitude is indeed a good thing. I try and concentrate on winter’s snowy charm, but by February, I’ve had it. Still, you’re right, as we get older, its easier to see the wonder of each season.
Michele O'Callaghan
Fall is depressing for me. Especially as I hold onto summer. As October and definitely November rolls around I am into more of a routine again and am into being productive, cleaning organizing and getting ready to hunker down for winter.
Laurie Stone
Michele, I love fall, but late fall starts depressing me. I’m not ready for another New England winter with its cabin fever and slick roads. I also want to get more productive in the colder weather.
Beth Havey
Fall used to be my beginning, when I was a teacher. Then it was again when I lived in Iowa and knew that autumn chores were on the way. We had 17 oak trees on our property to rake and flower gardens to put to bed. Now I live in Southern California. I MISS FALL. Nothing like a fall in the Midwest.
Laurie Stone
Beth, I can’t imagine life without fall. October here is so beautiful, even though gray November is close behind. I’ve never seen fall in the midwest. I bet its beautiful.
Diane
Resistance is futile!
I love fall!
Laurie Stone
So true. Resistance is futile! I also love fall.
Bonnie K. Aldinger
Ah, lovely. I’m just finishing the results of an end-of-summer greenmarket binge, I was peering at the trees on Foster Avenue for those first signs of fading green, wishing summer would go on a little longer.
OK technically it goes on until September 23rd, right? But you know what I mean.
I love summer, I’m never ready for fall.
And even though I haven’t seen the inside of a classroom in a very long time and work goes on all summer, I still get that primal sense of dismay when I see the first “back to school” display – and they’re doing those in, what, early July now? Come on!
Laurie Stone
Bonnie, I have to say, as much as I love summer, I also love fall. I do not, however, like winter which comes next. Still, the swirling leaves are beautiful.
Laurie Stone
Thank you, Lea.
Lea
Wise, beautiful reflections, Laurie. It does seem like time is going ever faster, doesn't it? I love fall – it is my favorite season. The goldenrod, the colors, a renewed feeling of activity, Halloween! I love your comparisons and descriptions. Thank you! XO