I like to wear layers

The coming of autumn makes my heart skip. As most mourn the passing of summer, I’m eagerly fluffing out my sweatshirts and dusting off my boots. Meanwhile, others are figuring out class schedules and reuniting with schoolmates. Once Labor Day has come and gone, it seems as though the world is finally settling down after the whimsical whirlwind of summer.

Perhaps the summer went by too fast. It’s all relative anyway. Frankly, I can never get things done in the summer and when I do, it took twice as long. My lazy summer nights are usually accompanied by lazy summer mornings, lazy summer afternoons and lazy summer evenings.

And that’s when my impatience with summer sets in. Call me a creature of habit, but I like when the world becomes predictable - when rush hour is actually during rush hour, when people are no longer on vacation, when the temperature becomes consistently cooler. In other words, I like the fall. Only then can I go about my business without being distracted by such things as the humidity index, air conditioning bills and loitering adolescents at strip malls.

So this is my tribute to fall:
Hooray for back-to-school specials, puffy down vests, brown leather boots, apple-picking and corn-mazing, tomato soup, No. 2 pencils, early morning traffic, pumpkin-flavored ice cream, lecture halls and tweed jackets, after-school snacks, lower gas bills, the World Series, dead leaf piles, layered sweaters, harvested fields, early sunsets, flannel blankets, football talk, cider with cinnamon sticks, condensation on the windshield and yes, the re-telling of summer adventures.

HOORAY FOR IT ALL!
HOORAY FOR THE FALL!