Breaking News: Human Being Loves Autumn
Pointlessly waxing poetic about my favorite time of year.
I can’t tell you what fall feels like, at least not in any novel way. Perhaps that’s a failing of mine as a writer, and with practice, I might be able to bottle the season up and release it on the page here for you. So no, I can’t describe it, but I know it when I feel it.
Down here in Baton Rouge, I ran at 3:30 in the afternoon. It was still warm—about 85º—but there was a whisper of a crispness that tempered the warmth and made it not just tolerable but enjoyable. It really doesn’t take much to take the edge off the heat of…October. Just a hint of true autumn is enough to make me smile and look forward to a run instead of dread it.
There are a lot of great things about this season. The promise of a new school year (though I’m a decade out of my last day of class by now), revelations of the fitness built on miserable summer running, and college football. Cloudy days spent on the couch watching movies in the dark and misty mornings admiring what nature has put on show for us. Sleeping with the windows open and a cup of coffee as inducement to leave the warmth of the bed the next morning.
There is nothing that makes me happier than fall. I’m perpetually grumpy all summer, but the first hint of cooler currents perks me up like a shot of espresso straight to the bloodstream. Ask my husband; he’ll tell you I’m 80% more pleasant as soon as the lows get down to 60º.
We’ve had a rollercoaster of a transition from summer to fall this year where I live. We got down into the 50s for a few days in September, and have shot back up to 70º/95º the last few days. It’s hard to truly settle in to the season when you know another scorcher is just around the corner. Humans are persistence hunters, and I think1 that we might have finally run summer down and killed it this week.
I will savor our collective triumph with the traditional drink at the end of this annual hunt: a pumpkin spice latte, half sweet, extra whipped cream.
hope