Fall is Coming 🍂

It is still really hot here, but I can feel fall coming. I know it is still a little way off, and there are probably plenty of hot days ahead of me, but I am already looking forward to it. Fall has always felt a little bit magical to me, and somehow the magic I felt when I was young is still there. I still love the colors, the leaves, the smell of the air when the seasons begin to change, and all the food that comes with it. Most of all, I love Halloween. I love spooky things, scary stories, antique stores filled with potentially haunted items, old places with stories to tell, and all the little bits of weirdness that seem to become more acceptable once October arrives.

I was really hoping for a Southern Gothic Girl Summer this year. In my imagination, it involved reading books in curious places, wandering around, taking pictures, browsing antique stores, and generally looking for the weird, the wonderful, and possibly haunted. The problem is that my body does not share my enthusiasm for summer. I do not tolerate the heat well, which means that when the temperatures climb, my world gets smaller. I spend much more time inside, and going out becomes something I have to think carefully about rather than something I can simply decide to do.

That is part of why I am so genuinely excited for fall. When the weather cools down, I can go outside again. I can wander around with my camera or spend an afternoon poking around my favorite antique stores without worrying about how long I can tolerate it. I can explore, notice things, and let myself be curious about the world around me. Fall does not just bring beautiful colors and Halloween. It gives me access to parts of my life that become much harder to reach during the summer.

I think there is something important in that. Sometimes our bodies are not the thing that needs fixing. Sometimes the environment simply asks more of us than we have to give. When fall arrives, I have not suddenly become more capable. The world has simply become a little easier for my body to inhabit.

I also love that I have never really outgrown the magic of this season. I can still get excited about crunchy leaves and spooky things. I can still wander around with my camera, get lost in an antique store, or find something fascinating tucked away in an old place. There are parts of childhood wonder that have stayed with me, and I am grateful for that.

So for now, I am waiting for the heat to break. I am waiting for the first genuinely cool morning and that feeling of realizing I can finally go outside without fighting the weather. I am waiting to wander again, to see what I can find, and to let myself be a little bit enchanted by the season. The magic is still there. I just have to wait for fall to arrive so I can go find it.

Until then, I will be at home watching Gilmore Girls, Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost, Hocus Pocus, Practical Magic, and Beetlejuice, among other fall favorites, and pretending that cooler weather is just around the corner.