While at a grocery store today I saw the first bins of
Halloween pumpkins teeming with round orange delights, a sign that one
of my favorite times of the year is lurking. In recent days I have seen
other signs that autumn too. The rumble of school buses in the morning
and afternoon and the look of the trees, ironically, looking more alive
in red, orange and yellow than when in green. The early morning cold
settled in a couple of weeks ago, just as it does every mid September
here. No matter how warm the day may be now, each morning starts with
some shivers as I retrieve my daily newspaper from the dark lawn outside
my front door.
I think I love the fall so much because of the rituals I practice each time it comes to me. Buying that pumpkin today, for example, alerts me that it will soon be time to make or buy pumpkin desserts to nourish the newly born autumn days. My mother was a practitioner of holiday/season worship. The decor of her home always fit the season, and I have learned to enjoy the same ritual of decorating today, even the crazy part that includes placing candy corn in a dish to provide fall nourishment to anyone who passes by. Though with Jane gone now I have less excuse to dress the house with autumn decorations, I still do it for myself and for the warm memories it will provoke in me of my childhood autumn days.
I already bought some Halloween candy and treats for the kids who will demand them while trick-or-treating on Halloween night. The Halloween decorations, costumes, and foods all about in stores now make it hard not to do so. And even those garish commercial establishments like Starbucks give a fall nudge to me. Every September or October, while in a seemingly hypnotic state, I indulge in a Starbuck's Pumpkin latte to remind me of the glories of the season. And I have to find a good pumpkin muffin at a bakery too. Can't brew my pumpkin coffee without one of those.
Kids are even more aglow than usual at autumn. I am not sure why because they also have the dreaded look of "do I have to go to school today" on their faces? I do remember the fall activities of my own youth and they verify what an author once wrote. He said that as long as we have memories we never get old. I feel sad for any adult who doesn't get excited by a holiday or doesn't have warm childhood memories of those days. Don't they realize that we adults have permission to be children again at Halloween time? We can run through a corn maze, crave a pumpkin, eat a candy apple, wear a silly costume and even upstage the children while doing it.
I wish you a happy autumn, and hope you allow yourself the joy of being a child again this fall.
I think I love the fall so much because of the rituals I practice each time it comes to me. Buying that pumpkin today, for example, alerts me that it will soon be time to make or buy pumpkin desserts to nourish the newly born autumn days. My mother was a practitioner of holiday/season worship. The decor of her home always fit the season, and I have learned to enjoy the same ritual of decorating today, even the crazy part that includes placing candy corn in a dish to provide fall nourishment to anyone who passes by. Though with Jane gone now I have less excuse to dress the house with autumn decorations, I still do it for myself and for the warm memories it will provoke in me of my childhood autumn days.
I already bought some Halloween candy and treats for the kids who will demand them while trick-or-treating on Halloween night. The Halloween decorations, costumes, and foods all about in stores now make it hard not to do so. And even those garish commercial establishments like Starbucks give a fall nudge to me. Every September or October, while in a seemingly hypnotic state, I indulge in a Starbuck's Pumpkin latte to remind me of the glories of the season. And I have to find a good pumpkin muffin at a bakery too. Can't brew my pumpkin coffee without one of those.
Kids are even more aglow than usual at autumn. I am not sure why because they also have the dreaded look of "do I have to go to school today" on their faces? I do remember the fall activities of my own youth and they verify what an author once wrote. He said that as long as we have memories we never get old. I feel sad for any adult who doesn't get excited by a holiday or doesn't have warm childhood memories of those days. Don't they realize that we adults have permission to be children again at Halloween time? We can run through a corn maze, crave a pumpkin, eat a candy apple, wear a silly costume and even upstage the children while doing it.
I wish you a happy autumn, and hope you allow yourself the joy of being a child again this fall.
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