Fall is my second favorite season. Not because I relish pumpkin pie or pumpkin spice coffee, but because I adore the transitional aspect of it. I absolutely love to watch the leaves lose their chlorophyl and turn the loss into spectacular colors that carpet the mountains in a way that looks exactly like the shag carpet that used to be in my parent’s television room.
As fall hits, I stand in awe of the trees which gracefully release their leaves as if it is the most natural thing in the world, which, of course, it is.
As summer ebbs, fall comes in like Fonzie – cool. I love the mild evenings that smell of campfires even if you’re not within 100 miles of one. I love the sound of football games, and the memory of buying new notebooks and textbooks for the year. Autumn is the time when your textbook cover is still fresh, your notebook paper is not covered in scribbles, and your teachers have yet to be irritated by your incessant talking.
The bright sun of summer softens, becoming a golden spotlight in the evenings, making everything shone upon seem royal.
I love the seasons that transition, because there is just something about an earth that keeps promising another opportunity to do something differently, a blank canvas upon which to paint your hours and days. And if you take advantage of that opportunity, rather than trying to retrace the days you’ve already lived onto the page, the result can be something outside the lines and rather spectacular.
If you take your losses and memories and incorporate them in a new way, with an autumn palette, then maybe the apprehension that accompanies change is replaced by an understanding that eternal transition is ours to keep. It’s our greatest gift from the Universe.
We always have a chance to tell a different story. To release the things that are no longer in season. To dress ourselves differently, with new thoughts that lift us up and provide a breath of hope, smelling of pumpkin spice.
I hope you lean into the fall, soak it up, take it in, and paint a brand new day.
Because change is not the enemy. Change is the most natural thing in the world.