Thoughts on Fall

I must be odd. I don’t like fall and I don’t like seeing the leaves change color. Most people love fall with all the colors. I’m one of the few that don’t. The multicolored trees are pretty in a way, but yellow and gold leaves are the portent to winter and I really don’t like winter. Spring brings the colors that I love the best.
Fall days get shorter and shorter which leaves me more depressed than the short days of mid-winter. In mid-winter, I know that the days are gradually getting a little longer until spring arrives again.
Fall is the time when I have to start wearing socks around the house, instead of going barefooted. I have to put away my sandals and get out my clunky shoes. Short sleeve t-shirts give way to long-sleeved shirts or sweatshirts to keep warm. I have to remember to take a jacket along because it’s too cool to go without one. Black ice might be on the roads so driving is more hazardous than normal.
Fall also brings the time of clearing out my flower beds which means no more color until spring. Just dead leaves and brown stalks. No more fresh vegetables at the farmer’s market. I don’t like squash which is about all there is during the fall. So it’s back to canned goods and store-bought produce.
Fall brings Halloween, my very least favorite “holiday.” I don’t like being scared. If I’m scared, I’m nervous. If I’m nervous, I eat all the candy I bought for the trick-or-treaters. I don’t need that candy, but it comforts me when I’m scared and nervous and depressed because it’s fall. It’s a vicious cycle.
To top it off, our neighbors across from the driveway put a very large hairy spider in their yard for the whole month of October. I hate spiders! Intensely hate! So this large spider, with its legs moving in the wind, scares the wits out of me when I see it. I want to run over it with my car. Back and forth, crushing it into oblivion so that I won’t ever have to look at it again. But in the spirit of being neighborly, I have to try not to look at it when I leave the house. If I could only figure out how to back the car out without looking…
The only good thing about fall is football season. I love football and enjoy watching it on the weekends. That’s about all I can say good about fall.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for each day, fall, winter, spring, or summer. I’m just saying fall isn’t my favorite time of year. The important thing is to be grateful for life and the blessings of each day. The rest will take care of itself.