Dear fall
It was another perfect day.
The colors have crept into the trees, and the air is deliciously cool and crisp. With not a speck of cloud in sight, the blue of the sky was the perfect canvas for the sea of trees, vibrant in their shades of green, orange, and red.
As my eyes drink in the colors and my lungs fill up with the clean smells of fall, my heart felt so full it may burst. It made me incredibly glad to be alive, despite all my problems and imperfections.
How can the weather influence our perspective of a day so much? I’m beginning to wonder if October won’t become my favorite month of the year, after all, what with the gorgeous weather and Halloween around the corner.
I was born and bred in Singapore, a fast-paced modern island country that is hot year-round. Until I was 21 years old, the only climate my skin has ever known was the tropical climate.
The only knowledge I had of the seasons was from novels. Fall always has the most memorable descriptions. It was the sunset of nature and every bit as colorful and poignant. Or so it had seemed.
So I knew all about the brilliant colors of fall and its cool, crisp air long before I ever got to experience it.
How can air be crisp? I had wondered. I knew about the crunchy brown leaves on the ground too. I just had never felt them underfoot.
As we were taking our walk on this perfect fall day, I can’t help thinking about the novels I read growing up. The novels seemed to have implanted in me some kind of pseudo-memory — because I feel like I’ve always known fall.
I stepped on the leaves on purpose, listening to the crunch and feeling it through my shoes. Then I looked up at the trees and the sky and took a deep breath. Why does it feel familiar?
I’m not talking about it being familiar because this is my 5th autumn. What I meant was, nothing about the season has ever felt foreign.
It had all felt right, right from the start. No, no. It didn’t just feel right. It felt downright amazing, like the best thing ever. And familiar.
Perhaps it’s just a natural human reaction, perhaps the books prepared me for this.
The best part was, all the descriptions I’ve ever come across about fall were beautiful, but they pale in comparison with the actual experience.
Fall is everything I’ve ever dreamed of, and better. Now let me go make a cup of tea and snuggle under a blanket with a book.
