Autumn, I Love You

There are a lot of things I don't love about fall. My dresses go into storage. Soccer winds down. I finish lunch and look out the window and see my reflection staring back in the darkness.

But even what I don't love about fall, I love about fall. My summer clothes are swapped out for gloves and hats and sweaters and scarves (and oh how I love scarves). By the time November rolls around my poor little over-stressed soccer heart is pleading for the off-season. Shorter days make it socially acceptable for me to hunker down next to the fire in my pajamas at 4:30 in the afternoon with my cup of tea--all of which are things I do anyway but I particularly appreciate the excuse of darkness to make myself look less like the world's youngest spinster and more like someone who just really likes drinking chai in her sweatpants.

Simply put, autumn is magical. On the trees, color spreads like ripples. The bike trail along the river is covered in such a thick layer of red-golden leaves that you can hardly tell where the path ends and the woods begin. The crisp air brings a numbness to your fingers that only a mug of peppermint hot chocolate can dissolve. Fall in the Pacific Northwest is especially wonderful because you can wrap yourself in layer after bulky layer of black, brown, and dark grey and pay no heed to the 700 fashion crimes you're committing because if you're getting hauled off to style prison, everyone within a 500-mile radius is coming with you. The chill in the air practically begs you to preheat your oven, and during what season is it more appropriate to whip up a honey pear tart with pears poached in white wine and fanned out atop a sweet almond crust? Even the word itself--autumn--is a deep, meditating breath.

So yes, goodbye skirts that billow when I twirl barefoot on the grass. Goodbye Scarves Up and my Sounders cowbell and booing David Beckham (actually, I never stop booing David Beckham). Goodbye sunsets that glow red along the horizon until well after I go to sleep. I will see you next year.

In the meantime, hello to the harvesting of pumpkins and the comfort of fleece and and exquisite earthy scent of the world, once again, changing.

Happy autumn, everyone.