Dear Fall, it's time we chat.

Dear Fall (or shall I greet you as Autumn?),

Just the thought of you used to send shivers up my spine. I would dread your arrival from the 4th of July forward. I considered you an unweclome precursor to the the season that follows you. I could not understand the attraction, the anticipation others felt when they spoke of you. Fall lovers would talk of you so lovingly. They love your color, your temperature, your fun offerings. I honestly thought I had no use for you. I wanted to close my eyes and wake up in April.

One early fall day I asked myself why I disliked you so. Did I have the evidence to support my stance that Fall was a necessary evil? What exactly was it about you that turned me into a harvest time scrooge?

My introspection provided me with a few reasons not listed in any particular order.

• You indicate the official end of summer. (lazy days, 80 degrees, vacation,)
  

• You make our lives overly committed with the commencement of school, soccer, church activities.

• You shorten daylight hours

• You make us search for socks, shoes, jackets, hats.

• You bring us one step closer to the looooonng, cold winter with its treacherous driving.
  

• You remind me that my kids are not getting any younger, nor are any of us.

The list of offenses against you are kind of laughable. How can a change of season be blamed for life just-- well, happening? Why must I use my energy to hate on fall, when I am really just hating on change ?

Just because I want my babies to be babies forever, and for the structure and responsibility of school time to go away, or for the weather to be 85 degrees forever, does that mean I am some kind of wingnut?

wingnut :

(noun) A person appearing to be moderately to severely crazy, disoriented, jumbled and more often than not, a total mess. A wingnut is a constant source of entertainment to those surrounding it and can easily be found in any type of setting or venue. Example: grocery stores, sporting events, cross-walks, public transportation, school, work…you may even have one in your house.

But, I digress. This year, Autumn, I decided to look at you with new eyes. Before, you could do no right by me. This year I watched you develop.

• I noticed the joy in my family and friends at your arrival.
  

• I took a good hard look at your colorful display and appreciated you.
  

• I wrapped my first cozy scarf around me neck and enjoyed it.
  

• I sipped hot coffee to warm me as I cheered my sons on during their soccer games.

• I felt the confidence in my daughter's step as she ran out of the van to join her classmates.
  

• I sat and enjoyed the pure silence as my baby slept and the older kids were at school for I had not experienced that kind of deafening silence in 3 months.

Fall, you bring certain change. I can now embrace you next we meet, instead of speaking ill about you. I can look to your appearance as the demonstration of God's promise in Geneis 8:22:

"As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."