Fall is like Being 40

I used to believe Spring and it’s promise of new beginnings, newly blooming scents and colors and a gentle warmth was my favorite time of year. Summer, with the extended daylight, endless beach days and nightly smell of charcoal reminding some deeply buried part of my DNA that a full belly awaits has also worn the crown of favorite seasons.

But now, Fall has taken position as favorite time of year. Crisp air with the promise of boot-wearing weather, silky soft long sleeves and hiking among the deciduous as they “decide” to allow leaves to change color and eventually fall has become what feels best to my soul.

Fall means cooler, calmer, back to routine days of school and football Sundays. Fall is coming home to smelling whatever’s been simmering in the crockpot all day. It’s welcoming the use of fireplaces over fire pits and eventually, giving thanks for an overflowing bounty of nourishment of the spirit as well as family and those we have placed in our lives as family.

Fall is like being 40. 40 is reacting to life's challenges with a cooler, calmer demeanor, knowing that the back to routine days will eventually become routine once again. 40 is having mastered or no longer being afraid to try that new recipe, hairstyle, friendship, or otherwise untested experience because you know yourself well enough to let your deciduous nature take over. 40 is knowing that truly living and giving thanks for the bounty in your life must occur because you’ve lived long enough to know those people, places and things won’t be there forever; their leaves will turn and fall off the tree at some point, too.

Fall, Autumn, Harvest Time, I welcome and embrace you in the way I have learned to welcome and embrace being of the forty-something kind. I welcome your comfort, abundance, wisdom, and change as I open my arms to those very same things in my life. God, Mother Nature, Gaia; I thank you.