When autumn comes, it doesn’t ask.
It just walks in where it left you last.
You never know when it starts
until there’s fog inside the glass
around your summer heart.“Something’s Missing,”
John Mayer
What reminds you of fall?
For me, it’s John Mayer’s “Heavier Things.” Buying the album on CD that first fall of my freshman year with cash from my first job. Watching the fog clear on the windshield of my old Corolla — the one before the one I’m currently selling, now that the minivan life has taken its hold. Listening to “Clarity” while I felt both too young and too old at college.
It’s dinner in the slow cooker — stews, chili. Chicken and wild rice soup.
Warm quilts. Sweatpants. Candy corn.
Stowing away flip-flops, digging out boots. Warm, sunny afternoons and crisp evenings.
Mums on porches. Mornings thick with dew. Finding last season’s jackets and slipping little arms into their sleeves, wondering if anything still fits.
This year, it’s also my son pointing out each crispy leaf, asking if we’re any closer to Halloween. Excitedly announcing that “it’s fall time!” with a commitment to giving a home to any lonely pumpkin we see … just like his mama.
My heart is not a summer heart. I adore spring, when my babies were born, and winter has its cozy charms.
But fall is still my favorite. Let’s get started.
write meg! 
Oh, wow. I, too, bought Clarity my freshman year of college and it has always felt so important and heavy to me, though I can’t really pinpoint why. Your description—while I felt both too young and too old—nails it.
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It provokes an almost visceral reaction in me! I still listen to that particular JM album every fall and can be back in the rainy college parking lot in a blink.
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I found your page after quite a bit of searching as I am not so handy with web stuff! I look forward to your column in The Recorder the way I used to look for Bill Burton’s column in Bay Weekly. Now Bay Weekly will close at the end of the year unless a buyer is found. You also remind me of Quiltville Quips by Bonnie K. Hunter – she blogs everyday but her kids are grown and out of the house. Ahhh, enjoy the fall weather and your babies. Thank you.
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Thank you, Lorraine, for reading in the paper and finding me here as well! I appreciate the kind words. 🙂
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Wonderful share. I hope we all can embrace the beauty of Autumn🍁
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100% the same. I do NOT like summer. I like getting ice cream and that Caleb has off from school, but that’s just about it. I live for the fall.
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