Wednesday
Fall is a great time to write, because it is a season filled with colors, smells, and textures (fuzzy scarves, itchy sweaters, crunchy leaves) – all ingredients for a great story. Share one of your favorite fall memories with us, or something you look forward to each fall (hello, Pumpkin Spice Latte, my old friend).
Ever since I was a little girl, fall has been my favorite season. Though I've never really lived in a place where fall means red, orange, and gold leaves falling from trees and apple orchards, the autumn season has always been a big part of my family culture. Of course, fall means many things outside my family life, like shorter days, crisp, cool nights, and cooler weather, but it's the part of the season that is linked with my home life that makes the season so special to me.
My mom ran a daycare out of our house for about 13 years, give or take a half a year. There were little kids running everywhere, which didn't always agree with me, except that I was lucky enough to have my mother at my disposal (for the most part) for the entirety of my childhood. That's invaluable and as I grew up I came to appreciate that she had put our house through the wear and tear of home daycare for us. She did it to spend time with us. The fall meant a lot of things with a daycare in the house, just one of them being a really awesome Halloween party every year. The Halloween party was so epic, in fact, that kids who weren't on her active roster showed up for this party--with their parents, of course, so that we weren't over legal capacity. There was food, games, and tons of candy. It was amazing. Then, she'd make us chili and cornbread at night and we'd go trick-or-treating, until we were older, of course, and then we'd answer the door for trick-or-treating.
But the Halloween party isn't all, mom would celebrate the fall by decorating our house for the season. Everything would be decked out with fall colors, fall garlands, a fall wreath, scarecrows, pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn, and the like. It was absolutely beautiful and allowed us to feel the fall, even in the Southern California Mojave Desert, where fall was more a state of mind and time of year, than it was a reality of the weather. Thanks to mom, I'll always feel a special kinship with the fall season. So much so that this year, I am inspired to decorate my house for the season, starting with a pretty autumn wreath for my door!
Happy fall, y'all!!
