Hi friends. There's just something about this time of year. The first few renegade leaves drift into the pool. No! My brain screams. I don't want summer to end! Is it knowing that the days will be shorter, the temperature cooler, the light different? Is it a long gone feeling from childhood that barefoot freedom is about to turn to feet clad in shoes and socks? I don't know, but a small sadness creeps up on me as the 90 degree days turn into 80 degree days, then 50 degree nights, then suddenly, it not just cool and crisp and refreshing, it's downright cccoooollllddddd! Yes, 50 degrees feels cold in Georgia! 

Fall has it pleasantries. The color, for one. The smell of burning leaves. The color. The high school football games. The color. The trick-or-treaters. The color. And oh, did I mention the color? But even that color is no match for the riot of flower colors in the summer, the taste of a home-grown tomato sandwich, the warmth of sun rays on bare skin, the crashing of ocean waves, the peaceful floating, alone and silent, in the backyard pool. Alas, summer's sensuality cannot be matched. 

Maybe the sadness harkens back to the fall excursions to “see the leaves” that used to seem so obligatory. I will never forget my mother saying, every year until the infamous year 2000, “We need to go see the leaves. It may be my last time.”  Indeed, 1999 was her last fall and last trip to “see the leaves.” Perhaps that is why I don’t especially care for an annual fall trip to see the leaves. Yes, the color is beautiful but it seems a garish hootenanny that precedes the funereal gray days of winter.

Like a bear, I wish to crawl in my own little cave and wait out the morbid days. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and even Valentine’s Day are no longer sparkly shining lights in the darkness. They are more like fun house masquerades with grotesque images that remind me of those no longer with us. The grandchildren do offer a bright candle flicker of joy, but candle flames are prey to fierce winds and even the fattest pillar eventually burns down.

I know there are those for whom fall is their favorite season. Congratulations! I am not trying to spoil your fun. Enjoy whatever it is that makes you love autumn’s song. Let me sleep peacefully through and wake me when spring has truly sprung, and perhaps we can enjoy a brief equinox together before we go our separate ways.