Autumn

I like the fall. It reminds me of when I was little, and I used to rake up the leaves and jump in them with my friends. I like the way the wind will bring smells of bon fires and cinnamon. I like dressing up in over-sized sweatshirts and scarves and sitting that much closer to the one you care about. But more than the clothes and the smells and the weather, I like the mood. Summer is wild and spirited and freeing, there's always rebellion. Once you get to autumn, the mood changes. It's more calm and loving and comfortable. Words obviously cannot justly describe the feelings that arise when the temperature drops. I just love it.
I remember being in fifth grade and sitting in the leaves with my friends, just smelling the cold air as it bit at my nose. I was completely care-free. The stress of life, though there wasn't much back then, wasn't a pressing matter. It was just me, sitting in the midst of beautiful oranges and reds, smelling my favorite smell, in my favorite sweatshirt, with my favorite people. It was bliss.
I think that I still try to take that feeling with me, to awaken it once September 22nd rolls around. I still believe that I can be that child, that content with life, once the leaves start to fall. It's been many years since that fifth-grade child, and many more stresses are prevelent in my life than were back then, but I know that the autumn holds some sort of magic that will melt away the stress and the conflicts of life, even if only for a while. I am anticipating wearing my oversized sweatshirts, smelling my favorite autumn smell in the frosty breeze, and sitting that much closer to the ones I care about in my great big leaf-pile.