It is an October in my Soul: A Tragical Fall Tale
Is Fall your favorite time of year? I’m guessing if you chose to read this blog then yes, you treasure and savor the change in light and the color of the trees & look as giddily forward to October 1st as I do.
For the last 8 years fall brought me charming semesters with my fellow English majors. Fall meant long evenings sipping lattes on the third floor of the library pouring over books on Shakespeare, Milton & Marlowe. Fall meant paradise for me. If you know an English major you won’t be surprised to learn that they are some of the most sentimental people you will ever meet. There is something in our natures & love for books that inevitably brings about a hopeless sense of romance when we think about fall semesters & rainy campuses.
This is my first fall without school. I finished my master’s degree last autumn, it was crazy, wonderful, the most stressful thing I’ve ever done and I miss it desperately. I feel as though a piece of myself is missing, that a beautiful part of my life is over.
I made myself cry just writing that – a true sign of sentimentality & english major funk? I think so.
Even though school has not ushered me into fall the way it has for almost the last decade, I have still felt the simple joys of buying my first (6) pumpkins, sipping my first spiced latte & seeing the charming decorations at Disneyland at twilight.
I’m realizing there are lots of things I dearly love about Fall & that I don’t need a library, tons of homework, or puddly-campus to savor it.
Here are just a few of my favorite fall treats:
Fall is my favorite season for many reasons so here is a list of all my favorite little Fall things!
– Pumpkin Spice Lattes – I squealed in delight with my first sip.
– Come to think of it, there is pumpkin-flavored everything this time of year. that’s great.
– Disneyland’s Halloween transformation. The streets are stacked with pumpkins & the glowing windows are filled with spooky displays. The Haunted Mansion gets a makeover and you can smell the gingerbread house in the grand ballroom that is specially redesigned every year for the ride. Big Thunder Ranch is perfect with the pumpkin-carvers and the festive little cottage. It’s Disney at it’s best.
– Trader Joe’s pumpkins! They’re cheap & beautiful – a perfect combo.
– The time of year when you watch “You’ve Got Mail” – one of my absolute FAVORITE movies. If you don’t know what “bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils” are then get on Netflix NOW. You have missed out for far too long.
– This painting.
Peter Ellenshaw, “Winnie the Pooh Autumn Leaves”
– I light candles in the newly darker evenings & that always makes me feel cozy & at home
– I also like to re-read some of the Harry Potter books this time of year, Harry & Halloween just go together & those books never get old.
– Most of all, I love fall because it means the craziness of summer is over, the frantic traveling between here & there is over and I can finally just be home. it’s simple but it is one of my chief joys.
To quote John Milton (author of Paradise Lost & a serious genius)
“The mind can make a heaven out of hell or a hell out of heaven” (Book 1, l. 253-55)
Maybe my heaven of school would have been your personal hell, or perhaps fall is your least favorite season because glorious summer is over. The point is that change comes to everything, endings come and traditions disappear. But our minds can see good even in semester-less falls, new heavens can be lurking where we never could have imagined them before.
(an actual photo from last semester in the library with my semester-long companions)
Is this fall different for you in some way?
What are some of your favorite fall treats?
39 Comments
Molly,
I totally understand about the first fall out of the classroom. I think it also has to do with “growing up”, in a way. Somehow, even though YOU aren’t, remaining in a classroom makes one feel a bit like a non-adult. There are many heavy responsibilities to adulthood. Actually the more study and work you put into school, the better prepared you are to handle it all in a stellar way. I have no doubt you are doing just that.
Enjoy your latte and your pumpkins! Soon it will be Christmas and they will switch to peppermint!! Love every word you write, Molly. You made me see and feel it all.
Anne,
What sweet words! Thank you so much for your wise insight – that this is my charge now, to make what I took all that time learning & practicing into well, practice! I’m so blessed to have the job I have & to now finally be in that “adult” part of my life.
Thank you again for your encouragement & compliments – they mean the world to me coming from you!
Molly,
We are very much the same when it comes to the emotional, romanticized way of looking at things, though you take this to a whole different level… and I love it. You keep me connected to the fun of stories and the fantasy of “Winnie… Harry” and others. Some of these are from my childhood and others you have introduced me to. I don’t like the sun shortened days of winter, but I do like the transition of fall. The changes in light and color are mood setting and the sights, sounds and aromas of pies, wood fires and the Thanksgiving season are among my favorites.
Thank you for bringing the delights of your romantic sensibilities to the open where we can partake and perhaps alter our own view.
One of my favorite movies for this season is, oddly enough. “To Kill a Mockingbird”. It is a story told much from a child’s perspective and it’s final chapter ends in the fall. It’s subject is far from the childishness that you would suppose might dominate a story narrated by the child now grown, but it manages to capture the magic of that season of life and then stare straight into the face of the realities of our not-so-magical world. Evil sometimes claims the innocent and not everything works out for the best. So the worst and the best of men are contrasted in this enchanting vignette of this ageless struggle.
Sorry… I have gone down a rabbit trail here. At any rate, I thank you for your provoking thoughts, perceptions and love of small yet spectacular detail that are easily missed as we tend to move through our days infected with the “hurry sickness”. I am going to slow down and savor.
Thanks Molly,
Jeff
Jeff,
I hadn’t really thought of “To Kill A Mockingbird” as a fall movie but you are 100% right. The hot summer finally comes to an end and what had happened? “Boo Radley had come out” – so awesome, I’m getting goose bumps right now! You’re also so right about our struggle to really just pause & delight in the season. I know for me there are certain magic places where I can do nothing but pause – Disneyland is the best of those places. Hopefully the pumpkins I scatter around the house will help you savor the season & we will definitely be enjoying Atticus & Scout soon.
You are so sweet to credit me with so much – it’s easy to share my passion with you because you take them in & then love them as much as I do! You are a dear friend to me because of the sweetness of your soul & the loves we share.
I love you, thank you so much for sharing your heart.
You’re blessed because you’ve danced with the Velveteen Rabbit; flown kites with Christopher Robin and Pooh in the Hundred Acre Forest; explored the labyrinths of Hogwarts with Harry; dreamed of love to the sonnets of all the great poets and shared your loving excitement for anything written with those close to you. Everyone loves an English Major with a Masters Degree in passion and imagination.
Wow, Chris. That is so beautiful! You pretty much pegged it too! Thank you so much for your charming words – they really made me smile.
Molly –
You do have a big heart!
Summer is my favorite time of the year, yet I am becoming a big fan of fall! I like the change of the seasons. Mainly for all the typical guy reasons football and basketball are here! I also like that winter is next and that means snowboarding season. I do love the holidays too, time to spend with family and friends. This year will be incredible with Jesse at Christmas time, last year he was to young to understand there is a present in the box for you. I love building fires and lighting candles as well, I rather have a cold house where you have to warm it up, instead of a hot house you need to cool down. Happy Fall to YOU!
Neil,
I’m with you about the cold house – one of my core beliefs is that you can never have too many blankets, just ask Bryce.
It makes a ton of sense that summer would be your favorite but I’m glad that fall is finding a place in your heart. I can’t believe I forgot to mention football, GO PACKERS! I love sitting around with my family cheering for our team & enjoying bar-b-que.
Jesse is going to knock your socks off this Christmas, I’m so excited for you & Lisa to have so much joy in your home in the form of that darling little guy. Can’t wait to see pictures & thank you so much for writing & sharing!
Molly,
I read this post while sitting in my office at home. The sun hitting the window tells me we are going to have another day of extreme heat.
This post makes me long for fall weather, sweaters, hot beverages. falling leaves…….
I relate to you very well on two topics….love of pumpkins and missing school.
To this day I still have dreams that I am late for a class at Chapman University. I loved the time I spent there earning my degrees. While I am an Education major, I have your same sentimentality about the experience.
Thank you for getting me in the mood for fall. I hope the weatherman gets your hint!
Lori,
I hope he gets the hint too! I don’t mind the heat as my imagination can usually overcome obstacles like that (with the help of AC of course!) but man, I just can’t wait to bust out my sweaters & scarves.
I either didn’t know or didn’t remember that you went to Chapman – that university is so beautiful! If I can romanticize Long Beach as much as I have I can’t imagine how I would feel about a university that is actually gorgeous! Thank you for sharing with me Lori & for taking the time to write – I love you & we need to have some coffee together with our scarves & sweaters just as soon as the weather allows!
I agree! It has been way too long since we have had a proper visit.