happyToday is the first of October, the last month of the year (as reckoned by some calendars, including the one I elect to keep). The leaves are turning; the heat is fading; the migratory birds are moving on. The monarch butterflies have already left for their long trek down the California coast to Mexico, where they'll spend the winter on sunny beaches, dreaming of Santa Cruz. In the fields, the corn and pumpkins are coming in, along with the late-season tomatoes and the sweetest apples. The cats are putting their warmest coats on, preparing themselves for frozen nights ahead. Fall is finally here.
I am delighted beyond all measure.
I've always been an autumn girl. I love the smell of fallen leaves, the smell of rain either coming or just barely past, the smell of bonfires burning in the near distance. I love the cries of the crows as they call each other to treasure, and the mournful wail of the coyotes in the hills, singing summer to its rest. Persephone has taken off her summer dresses and hung up the apron she wears when she works her summer job—I always assume she works at an ice cream parlor, I don't know exactly why—and is making her way back to Hades, back to her husband, back to her home. The seasons are turning, and for a little while, I get to go as Persephone goes, because this time of the year...this time of the year is my home.
Many of my friends are summer girls. They like the heat and the green and the flowers everywhere. I like a lot of things about the summer—I like strawberries and lizards and the ability to walk for miles without carrying an umbrella—but summer's not my home. A few of my friends are winter girls. They like the cold and the white and the taste of frost. I like a lot of things about the winter—I like cocoa and warm blankets and the taste of peppermint in everything—but winter's not my home, either.
The first of October is always wonderful, because it's like opening a book I've read before that still manages to be different every single time. Welcome back, October. I couldn't be happier to see you.
Welcome to the fall.
Hot Summer Nights
October 1 2010, 20:59:27 UTC 6 years ago
Summer in Alabama isn't for the weak. It's blasting-hot sun, lethal to some, so intense that I once dreamed an entire fantasy novel of solar-powered Egyptian gods up between July and August while taking law school classes. I like how just walking outside raises your pulse and makes you reach for the sunglasses, the way that the rays would vaporize you if you let them. But in the land of sweet ice tea, we cope and eat barbecue, grilled meat, fresh produce from the street markets.
Fall is nice. It has October, my favorite holiday of ghost stories, spooky movies on television, and gruesome decorations. It's a solitary holiday for me, though. November and Thanksgiving will be when family comes together.
Winter has its charms too, shuddering cold and bleak bareness that makes me want to drive a stake through its heart, killing the vampire who sucks the heat from my bones and won't let me go. No, I'm no fan of winter's charms. But there's an elemental purity in surviving it.
Spring is a beautiful girl trying on new clothes for the first time. Who doesn't like welcoming her? After the winter, she's a cheerful phoenix in green, life reborn from chilly ashes.
But give me summer, always, the heat and fire and life, that shout out in light white to the world. Give me something to dream about, to treasure through the winter.
Re: Hot Summer Nights
October 13 2010, 21:00:45 UTC 6 years ago