‘Reasons why autumn is my favourite season’

Labor Day weekend, the first weekend in September. The end of summer. Not really, of course. The calendar tells us that happens on September 22, but we know better. The tourists and summer renters go home. Children go back to school. Families return to their normal, hectic schedules. Carefully tended gardens begin to wilt. The sun sets earlier as if to say “time to go back to work. You’ve done enough playing for now”.

Summer is not my favourite season. I love autumn, or the fall as it’s called. The colours, the fruits and vegetables, the crisp air coming through open windows. I wear sweaters and light the fireplace. I take walks on brightly coloured leaves and listen to them crunch beneath my feet. It’s a time of hot chocolate and spiced apple cider. The fall is when the world starts to tuck in for the long winter haul, and as the temperatures become cooler.

However, I always feel this strange sadness as I turn the calendar page to September. A longing. A desire to hold up my hand and say “Stop! I’m not ready”. Like I was as a girl — not wanting to leave my beloved cabin on the marsh by the Bay, my Sanctuary, the freedom.

I will look out over the now almost-deserted beach and listen to the seagulls and crashing waves. I watch the sunsets that appear so different now than just a few days ago. I will think about all the summers past and wonder what the fall will bring.

Mother Nature… growing older. As am I.

Do you have a favourite season? What do you love about it?

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