I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but it’s fall. My allergies certainly have. I’m sneezing more than usual, my eyes are starting to water and itch, only one side of my nose is deciding to work. On top of that, my skin has decided I am going to be a dried-out alligator for Halloween. Still, all of that is a small price to pay for a season I love.
Fall fills me with nostalgia. I feel a cool breeze at night and I’m 16 hanging out with friends at a possibly haunted battlefield, scaring each other senseless. Then I’m a kid helping Mom and Aunt Treva teepee their sister’s trees and dog with pastel toilet paper. (Sorry Aunt Tracey.) Or I’m 10, trick-or-treating with my cousin Scott and the last house on the block emptied their still full bowl of candy into our bags.
My nephews are gearing up for Halloween. George, who is 10, is especially excited because he just got his braces off and can now eat the candy he’s been denied. Whitley, soon to be five, is excited about the candy period. And potentially scaring people. They’ve been talking about costumes for the past few months and Whit wants to be a dinosaur. Specifically, the kind of dinosaur that requires an inflatable costume. George wants to be an axolotl. While my sister, Sarah, was ordering their costumes, Whit decided he no longer wanted to be a blow-up dinosaur. He wants to be Darth Vader. George suddenly wants to be a blow-up dinosaur.
I just want to be a grown-up who has her life together. I wonder if I can buy that on Amazon…
I can’t remember the last time I put on a costume and went trick-or-treating. I think I was around 11 or 12, when I got old enough for it to be uncool to dress up and get free candy. One thing I wish I could tell my younger self is that it is never uncool to get free candy the one night it’s okay to take candy from strangers.
There’s just something about fall, as soon as I feel that chill in the air, my spirits lift a little. I’ve never been fond of the oppressively hot days that come with summer. I love honeybees, flowers, and making strawberry jam, so I’ll deal with it — but I will complain the whole time. Summer is just summer. Sunburns, sweat, poison ivy and oak and sumac, mosquitoes, wasps, humidity that makes my curly hair look like a lion’s mane.
Fall has harvest moons, chilly afternoons I can spend under a quilt I made with my mom’s mom, Mams, my two fat cats curled up with me. The leaves are beautiful. The smell that comes along with fall is one of my absolute favorite smells. The sound of rain on the metal roof at home. Thunderstorms bring me a sense of comfort — Sarah is the same way. I can finally eat soup — I’m not sure I fully trust individuals who eat hot soup when it’s above 75 degrees and they aren’t sick. It’s not natural.
Then we have the festivals. Fall festivals are superior to summer festivals and I will stand by this. The food is better for starters: beignets, apple fritters, caramel corn, apple cider, etc. It’s not as hot or sweaty. The bees have a limited invitation. My family and I would go to the 1812 battle reenactment almost every year. The colder and rainier the better. I’ve missed it the last few years: Mom got sick, and then COVID-19 reared its ugly head and everything was put on hold. My nephews love to watch the battle reenactment. George loves tea, so the tea tent is one of his favorite places to stop. They love getting root beer in those blue or brown glass bottles.
I didn’t get to go with them this year, but my sister took pictures. Whit got a roasted ear of corn and looked like he had just discovered the answer to life. George was so excited that candle dipping was back this year. While I didn’t get to go, I could smell the air through the pictures: leaves, hay, warm food, and wood smoke. That nostalgia came back. The memories of my mother taking my sister and I, being soaked to the bone and ankle deep in mud, having the best time of my little-kid life.
Fall brings comfort and I love it. I love the sweaters, the rain, warm soups, steamy coffee, fresh bread pulled out of the oven on a cool morning, crows, and fall festivals. But most of all, I think I love the memories that come along with it.
Contact Carrie at: newsroom@news-banner.com
