Fall and all its Glory

Fall is here. It's kind of hard to get behind the season of autumn when you live in central Florida. Nevertheless, I absolutely love fall. There is no better season. Even though our leaves don't change in central Florida, the very air changes. I'm not talking about a temperature change. It's more than that. A special feeling accompanies fall and I love it. Break out the apple cider and bring on the pumpkin flavored everything.

I would have to say that the first time I truly saw fall leaves was just 4 years ago. Halloween weekend of 2000 was spectacular! It was my first visit to Karen and Philip's Wilmore, KY residence and it was perfect! The three of us went for a walk around town and I was just in awe. There were leaves everywhere and I remember picking some up and wanting to save them forever. Philip gave me a box that some sort of monkey bookends came in to keep my fall leaves in forever and ever. However, you might have already known this, once the leaf dries up, the edges curl and it gets really crackly and fragile. Sadly, I don't have those leaves any more. What I should have done was press them in the pages of my journal. Oh well... I even wrote a letter on one of those beautiful-dried-up-cracky-fragile leaves. One day, Karen, Philip, and I went to pick out our very own pumpkins. Each of us selected our own pumpkins. After careful consideration, I chose a nearly perfectly round pumpkin with bumpy skin. I remember, as if it were just yesterday, spreading the newspaper out on their front porch, setting our pumpkins down, cleaning out the guts, and carving our very own designs. I decided to go with the standard pumpkin face. And then came the Halloween party! Now, I was very impressed that a seminary was hip enough to realize that Halloween is indeed a fun holiday (whether it's pagan or not...come on, dressing up, bobbing for apples, and eating candy is nothing but fun!). Karen and I went dressed as flowers! Our costumes, though last minute, were smashing! We wore bright green tights and fun flower headbands. [I feel that I should now mention that it was upon this visit that I proclaimed to Karen about how neat it would be to have a Cinderella dress so that I could wear it to all sorts of costume-necessary functions. Little did I know that a year and a half later she would present me with my very own, Karen-crafted Cinderella dress.]

Fall in Wilmore with Karen and Philip was spectacular. The leaves were beautiful, the pumpkin carving was much fun, and the Halloween party complete with square dancing was smashing. Fall in Palm Bay leaves a bit to be desired, but I have my sights on being somewhere next year to experience fall in all its glory.

I am looking forward to the weekend of October 8th. Not only will I be in Atlanta to see Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken (remember, you all are supposed to be praying that Sandra will sing "High Countries" and "Awake My Soul"), but I'll be somewhere north of here where there might be pretty leaves and cooler weather. (Ok, I guess I should explain the boldfaced, italicized, and underline words "somewhere north of here"...it's a Derek song! I'm quite proud of the reference, thankyouverymuch. I may miss some Dylan song references, but never would I miss a Derek one.)