There is something about Autumn in New England that just makes you super-duper-can't-ignore-it aware of the fact that the seasons are a'changing. There are very obvious behaviors and queues in my house that let me know I am officially diving into the season of oranges and reds. Objects that will offend me by February feel like long lost friends I haven't seen for six months in September.
Things like:
~ wool socks
~ the crock pot
~ granny nighties (don't judge)
~ extra blankets
~ storm doors
It is hard to resist the urge to "Fall-ify" the house for the changing season. I don't usually give tips on the blog but I am going to make an exception to introduce one of my fav Fall decos. The apple votive holder. Carve out the top of an apple and stick a tea light in it. The end. The beauty of this is that even if you're not crafty it will make you feel like you are. You can do this with baby pumpkins too - so cute.
(If that image doesn't put you in the mood to mull some cider on the stove I don't know what will.)
The colors on the leaves aren't the only things I notice changing this time of year - my mood changes too. It took me a while to catch on to it, but I know this about myself now. I'm pretty sure there's a name for it...something that rhymes with Measonal Lapsective Misporter. Otherwise known as seasonal depression. I used to try to fight the way my mood changed with the seasons, but I've stopped.
The last few years I have been recognizing it, surrendering to it, and accepting it more. Not surprisingly, it affects me less as a result. In Spring I tend to feel energetic, in Winter I tend to feel (overly) heady, in Summer I tend to feel carefree and in the Fall I feel, well...quiet.
The word 'quiet' keeps coming up in conversation these days. After nearly ten years of small children and full-time work the word 'quiet' is perhaps now my favorite word in the English language. When you think about it, almost everything has a quiet period at some point in time.
A family can have a quiet period, a marriage can have a quiet period, a friendship can have a quiet period and a life can have one too. A time when there is nothing major happening. No babies are being born, no houses are being sold, no jobs are being changed and no illness is being tended to. Just quiet.
The quiet Autumn brings has come to be one of my favorite things about this time of year. There's finally time to pick up the book that has been staring you down all summer. There's time to go for a solo walk in the woods, or paint that piece of furniture or remove the contents of an overgrown closet just to make some sense of it.
There's time to lay on the couch and watch Beaches just because you can.
Fall is palpable. You can almost feel yourself soaking it in through your skin and breathing it back out into the chilly air. Give yourself permission to "go dark" a little and just be still on the inside. Then take a well-deserved minute to enjoy the quiet.
"Sometimes I have so much to say, and sometimes my soul falls silent." ~ Michelle Gardella
