hello fall

fall is my favorite season. there is something deep, deep in me which dusts off longings for home when the leaves start to turn. i'm not sure why colored leaves = home for me, especially since i grew up in coastal washington and then in montana, out in the woods with the conifers. whenever we would drive through town in september i would almost throw up in envy of the people who got to live in their two-story houses with their hardwood floors and the maple out front that carpeted the lawn and sidewalks with yellow. i ached to be one of those children who got to rake leaves into piles over and over for jumping in, so much so that i tried to one day with the teardrop leaves of our young birch, unknowingly mixing them with dog droppings for a nasty surprise.

did you ever have the fall you wanted? i haven't yet.