Black Throated Wind of Fall

Fall is not my favorite season. Its tolerable, but as the weather turns colder and the days get shorter, I can't help but count down until spring. I miss riding. I'm back at the gym, but its just not the same.

So today I decided to try to like fall. It is the perfect autumn day. The sun is bright and the air cool and crisp. I took my son on a nature walk on a leaf covered trail through the woods nearby. I enjoyed the sound of the leaves crunching and rustling under our feet and the smell of a not so distant fireplace wafting in our direction. We talked and laughed and held hands the whole time.

Then he asked me if we were going to have a long winter. Oh, I hope not. But I wasn't going to tell him that. He who had only a couple of good days last winter to try out his snowboard. I could have told him about the colors on the big fuzzy gypsy caterpillars that I check every year against the Farmer's Almanac. But I didn't think that was what he wanted to hear. So I just asked what we would do if it were a long winter. We would build snowmen, snow forts and have lots of snowball fights. I got detailed battle plans and team lineups - which parent would be paired with which child. "Sorry Mama, but Daddy can throw better than you." Fair enough, but they'll have a hard time getting me into my snow pants either way. I don't do snow.

So maybe it isn't fall that I dislike, but the impending winter death that looms so heavy for months on end. I've got my fingers crossed that the gypsy moths were wrong...
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