Only one problem with Fall...it comes directly before Winter. I hate Winter! I hate snow! I hate ice! I hate the cold, bitter, cut-straight-through-every-layer-of-clothing-to-your-bones wind!!!! Scraping frost off of windows...hate it!! Having to let my 18 year old car warm up for 15 minutes before going anywhere...hate it!!!
As a kid, Winter was great! It meant 2 hour delays because of road conditions. It meant cancellations - SNOW DAY!!! Winter meant multiple long weekends because of the holidays. It meant family, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. Sledding, ice skating, snowball battles, snow forts...all wonderful things. Winter meant a new batch of baby goats to be born. Wintertime was fantastic, when I was kid.
Well, I ain't a kid. Winter stopped being fun YEARS AGO!!
It doesn't matter if the roads are covered with snow and/or ice. There are no snow days. To make it worse, before I can go out on those dangerous slick highways, I have to dig out my car. NOT FUN!! Along with digging out the car, I have to clear the driveway before I can go to work, on hopefully salted roads. The salt, which if not washed off regularly, ruins the paint job on my car, and can cause rust in the undercarriage.
Have I mentioned I hate Winter!
I am kvetching, I know! Where I live, Winter is part of the deal. We do actually get all four seasons in this area, so I suppose I shouldn't complain. Spring looks like Spring with rain, budding flowers and budding trees (budding allergies, lol). Summer is hot and humid, but the trees and the flowers are gorgeous. Air conditioning fixes the problem with the temps and helps with the full bloom allergies too.
Fall...oh my beautiful Fall! Every year I look forward to Fall. I ignore the fact that Fall means Winter is just around the corner. I enjoy the bright colors, the shorter days, the nighttime temperatures that allow you to see your breath. Fall brings so many wonderful memories from years gone by. Some are painful, but the times they come from are ones that will live forever in my soul. Those times were key building blocks to who I am now.
I like who I am now. I have learned from my mistakes. I have grown from the hurts and the pain that I have felt...and I do not let them defeat me. There has always been a part of me that was a fighter, but I had pushed her aside. For a while, I was preferring to wallow in a truckload of self pity...which only let me get fat and lonely.
I am still a big girl by modern standards, but I am healthy, and losing weight. I have developed a more positive outlook on my life and on life in general. I lose my way occasionally and have to vent my negativity. I know in the long run, I am better off because of the lessons I have learned throughout my life. But there is something about the lessons from Fall that have stayed with me the longest. Maybe it is because Fall is my favorite time of year that those memories stay close. Truth be told, I don't know for sure. What I do know is...
For everything that has happened, good or bad, in a few Autumns...it will never be enough to make me not enjoy this time of year. All I have to do is breathe in the crisp, clean air and know that no matter what happens, no matter that Winter is coming soon, I can and will get through it to the green grass & flowers of Spring.
Ah, I love Fall.
6:41AM??? Dang girl dont you ever sleep????
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