Fall is coming.

I hear it in the crickets singing of an evening. I smell it in the pumpkin and cinnamon baking together in a dozen muffin cups. I feel it in the air, a softening and slowing.

In the spring I think perhaps spring is my favorite season, and in the summer I think maybe it is summer; but come fall I know.

There is a tangible loosening in the tight loins of our schedule, like a large woman sighing out of her corset.

There is hot tea again (Beautiful tea. It tastes just right in the fall.) and spiced and comfortable food.

There are new school supplies, sharp and smooth and colorful. I walk my second son to the door of his first grade classroom, and my big boy to fourth. I am smiling in order to hide a complex mix of anticipation and fear and hope and aging. They are just smiling. Ear to ear. Oh yes; I know why I send them.

There is the longing Mr. Lewis called joy, the reaching for an infinite otherness that is never… quite.

Mmm.

*****

What says “fall” to you more than anything else? Tell me.

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Alvin
11 years ago

Football.

11 years ago

I love winter, spring, and summer. I love watching the days become longer. I love watching snow fall and decorating the world in dazzling splendor. A picture window in my living room enables me to see winter at its best. I love gardening and nurturing plants. This breathes life into my very being. I love the color fall brings. I love the smell of fall leaves. i love to hear the crunch and crackle as I step on brittle leaves. But fall also brings out the melancholy side of me. I tend to struggle with depression during the fall season. So, there are things I love about fall, but as a general rule, I dread the fall season because of the depression and blackness swirling around my soul. During the fall season I cling to the truth that God is good, and that winter, spring and summer is coming! Shari, when I read your title “fall is coming” it invoked a dread of the sad inner spirit that is starting to descend on me. It is okay because God has been very faithful to me during past fall seasons. I trust in His provisions for this fall!

11 years ago
Reply to  irenebontrager

I’m so sorry!
That’s how winter is for me. 🙁
Courage!

Jean Nisley
11 years ago

Fall talks to me of treatments almost finished (last year). Of relief from incessant drugs and medications (this year). It is the end of unbearable heat on my already wilted body. Oh yes! To me, fall is the beginning of a new life. I love it!

Kendra
11 years ago

You perfectly verbalized what I feel myself, especially the suddenly KNOWING which is my favorite season when fall comes around. It’s still midsummer hot where we live, but through the day I can hear the crickets chirping that particular way, and I feel in my bones that blessed coolness and pumpkins, apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg are just around the corner. Bliss!

11 years ago

I love fall. Fall speaks of home to me. I am quite biased, but new England autumns exceed any other autumn anywhere else…that I have ever experienced. Fall says pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks, hoodies and cozy sweaters, brilliant leaves hanging on trees and crunching under foot, spiced apple cider from Timmies, pumpkin candles, time to cozy up with a good classic…

Crystal
11 years ago

I smiled as I read your post. I too, in the spring think that maybe this is my favorite season, but when fall hits–I know.
Its those crispy mornings and the leaves changing color, and the smell of something full of spice baking in the oven. And the evenings that a camp fire is just right.

Ruth Anna
11 years ago

=) Your comment: “When fall comes, I know..” and I add, “I know that spring is my favorite season. I too find autumn rather depressing and so I know that autumn is not the time to think of coming off depression meds. (I do enjoy the cooler weather, being able to wear sweaters again, and the phase of school that we are in during the fall, but …..fall feels sad somehow to me. Feels like the world is shutting down, in a sense…..autumn is when I am grateful for depression meds. =)

11 years ago

IS there enough fall for us all to love it so much??? 🙂

11 years ago
Reply to  Shaunda

A few yellow leaves descending from my walnut tree works for me. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 🙂 “Coming” would be the key word there…

Marlene Stoltzfus
11 years ago

I feel all ambivalent about fall right now. I have always loved fall, but last year I did not. I was sad, the adrenaline from many changes wearing off into the daily doldrum acceptance. And it was raining and damp, the world weeping over its dying. I hope I like this one.

But usually, I love winter squash and pumpkin spice lattes, warm cozy food, mellow golden days and crisp nights. The light is softer and the sun feels closer. It is the beginning of rest, as the outdoor work comes to an end. Energies turn inward, toward home and family and gratefulness for the harvest and burst of life that has been from summer.

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