“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers!” – L.M. Montgomery
If you ask anyone I’ve ever talked to, they’ll tell you that I love Anne of Green Gables. From the first time I read it, I was enthralled by the child-like wonder that is present throughout the book. No matter how desperate a situation became or how old she got, Anne continuously searched for the positives, a quality I have found myself lacking. More often than not, I catch myself dwelling on a small inconvenience or wishing away a melancholy feeling. However, after rereading the book, my outlook on life has since changed. So, with Anne as my inspiration, I’d like to focus on romanticizing small, trivial-seeming things in my life, and perhaps gain a deeper appreciation for the world around me. This journey of self-reflection and life appreciation starts now – the harvest season.
I’d like to preface this by explaining that I believe this current season (from September through November) deserves the name autumn. Fall does not nearly encapsulate the vibrancy of the leaves or the exuberance of the mid-morning sun before it sets so early. When I was younger, I thought that autumn was a sad time, filled with both cold and darkness. But I was wrong. There’s a certain warmth that only autumn can create. It’s the warmth of a mug of apple cider with cinnamon delicately sprinkled across the top and the warmth of a loaf of pumpkin bread just out of the oven as the scent fills the house. “Fall” just does not begin to capture the essence of this magical time of year.
I did not truly appreciate autumn until I came to Kenyon. We have autumn where I’m from in Virginia, but it is not quite to this magnificent degree. When I was younger, I remember wishing it away in hopes that the weather would magically warm up, and we could skip the season as a whole. The falling leaves meant a Saturday afternoon filled with raking, and the setting sun meant that we’d have to go home from school in the dark. While this is true, reducing autumn to solely a dreary season is not fair.
Autumn is a marvelously mellow time. Outside may be chilly, though staying inside during autumn is its own kind of wonderful. What better time to spend a cozy day working on a puzzle in your pajamas? How about spending an afternoon learning to make apple pie? There are certain things that just feel right during the autumn months. Spending time raking leaves is an often overlooked task, but it comes with quite a reward. Forget schoolwork for a few minutes and relive child-like joy of puzzles and baking.
Thank you, autumn, and I’m sorry for wishing you away for so many years. Thank you for your brisk mornings, complemented perfectly with a jacket I know I’ll take off once the sun comes out. Thank you for the colors of the leaves– the rosy reds, the sunset oranges, and the sunny yellows. Thank you for the crunch crunch! sound they make when I walk across them. Thank you for corn mazes, pumpkin patches, and apple orchards. Thank you for the creativity of people to make thousands of apple and pumpkin-spiced goods. Thank you for Halloween and Thanksgiving, for the Charlie Brown movies, and for Gilmore Girls. Thank you for warm sweaters and scarves, hats, and boots. Thank you for the time we spend inside talking with friends and family about our hopes and dreams.
I believe Anne (of Green Gables) was onto something when she said she was grateful for Octobers. However, I’d like to propose one modification: I’m so glad I live in a world where there are autumns!