Autumn's First Day

Oh, this is my favorite time.

It seems like every year, I hate some things more. I hate 95% humidity in 95-degree-Missouri more. I hate all of February, with a passion.

But I also love this more...every year.

I can't always indulge in the special treats autumn brings, but I can remember what have been memorable...

1. Apples...Gala, Ginger Gold, Honeycrisp, and my absolute sweet-tart favorite, Pink Lady. Bath & Body Works had a Granny Smith apple scent last year that smelled like you'd just bitten into one. Wow. I only really like two fruits: fall apples, and winter/spring pumelos.

2. I've mentioned Hartsburg before, and we're going this year to get decorations for the wedding. I'm so looking forward to it!

3. Opening the windows and balcony door all day, then shutting them at night because it's a little too chilly.

4. Candles...pumpkin spice, gingerbread, baking bread, apple pie, cranberry (sort of) and the best one I've ever smelled, which I can't find ANYWHERE anymore...Clove.

5. Autumn in London was bittersweet. It was my favorite time of year, but I was terribly homesick, and being in a huge dirty city like that isn't exactly the Midwest in October. But, we'd take weekend trips to these crazy-charming villages and towns, and they took my breath away. One week, Mom sent me a care package, and it was like she knew what I wanted without me saying anything...she included a little sachet of pumpkin-spice smell, and I think I took that thing everywhere I went thereafter. It brought tears to my eyes, some days.

6. Driving down Stadium, or Broadway, or Stewart, and being absolutely surrounded by trees, seemingly on all sides, in the array of colors that fall brings.

7. Sitting here, in my Stephens office overlooking the courtyard, with two huge trees I can see changing every day.

8. Coming home with Dad every fall or Thanksgiving break, driving through the gorgeous farmlands of Iowa, seeing cute little Halloween decorations through Oskaloosa and Ottumwa, and stopping by Jaarsma's bakery for pumpkin bread.

9. Then, later, going on my own to visit my alma mater during their fall break, so I would have the campus all to myself, and cuddling up in the Carriage House B&B (once, watching the Cardinals clinch the NL win to go to the World Series on the teeny TV/VCR in my room). I spent four years there as an undergrad, but I've never seen the campus look so beautiful as during those re-visiting trips.

10. Shopping with Dad and Lily before Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners at Schnucks. We always run into people we know and haven't seen in years and years. These are virtually the only grocery trips Dad has to make a list for; he eschews lists. Neil and I may have to make this year's trip alone, if Dad goes to California to help Lily and Gil move home...but it'll be worth losing the tradition for one year, if it means I get my sister back!

11. Although I don't love it when winter is in full-blast, there's nothing like that first crisp, fresh gust of wind when you step outside and realize you'll be needing a scarf soon.

12. The months when Mom was sick, and the year or so after she died, I went over to Dad's almost nightly. I was living on Stewart, and decided I'd walk down there instead of driving. I would kick fallen leaves with the abandon of a kid, crunch-step on all I could, gaze upwards at the breathtaking colors curving over my head, and lift my head to smell the crisp air again and again. I miss those walks.

13. During the fall of junior year, I was in "Hamlet" with MRTC, and we rehearsed at Dad's Tate Hall. Lindsay, Jeff, & I spent every free moment just outside Tate, on the benches, underneath the sweet gum tree, and every time I get a whiff of that that sweet-spicy smell, I am instantly transported to that time.

14. The first morning Dad would turn on the heat. Smelled like Elmer's Glue, in a really, really good way. I'd stand over the vent in my nightgown and let the heat billow the fabric around my legs.

15. In junior high, I was still in Girl Scouts. It wasn't exactly an active troop; if I remember correctly, we didn't even meet anymore. It seemed the one purpose of the group was so we'd have an excuse each fall to spend a weekend in Boonville, MO at Kemper Military Academy. Now that I think about it, that was pretty insane...hundreds of Girl Scouts from across Missouri converging on a military school? I mean, those boys were sent there for bad reasons!! We each toured around the gorgeous grounds, all yellows and oranges, led by cute, slightly older boys, and marched in formation and shot BB guns at a target and were shown how to eat military-style (i.e., look straight forward, blindly stick your fork in some food, lift the fork straight up, and move it straight to your mouth). THEN, that night, there was The Dance. We spent so much time getting ready for it, and using mascara, and Ginger always found someone to make out with. I had never danced with a boy before, and this dude Jason kept asking me, and I didn't like him and he bobbed his head while he danced. He had squinty eyes. And I remember thinking despondently "Is this what it's like? Dating boys? Yuck!!"

16. It wouldn't be a Minutiae blog entry without a touch of celebrity: Season premieres!

{It just occurred to me how incredibly sensual autumn is...not like, sex-sensual, but how every bit of what I love about it encompasses the senses. Smell is a huge part, the touch/feel of the air, the tastes fall brings, the incredible visuals, and the sounds of rustling and crunching leaves.}