I was asked to give a short reflection on "WHY I LOVE FALL…" at the special September Activity held by the Women's Auxiliary in my Congregation. The get-together featured everything FALL from food, to crafts, to favorite memories.
I accepted the invitation, but for the life of me just couldn't paint a glorious picture about Fall. So, this is what I shared...
I NEVER liked Fall!
Because Fall in my life when I grew up on the high windy plateaus of
South Central Wyoming was a meteorological season based on the annual
temperature cycle. So, Autumn or Fall, for example, would run September through
November, which makes perfect sense to me.
About the only thing I did like about Fall was the
start of school the day after Labor Day, because I LOVED school. But it wasn’t long after school began that
the temperature dropped dramatically, the cottonwood and elm trees turned an
ugly brown, and the wind picked up with a vengeance blowing the leaves into a
mostly dirt-filled screen that pelted our faces and tried to rip our jackets
off as we walked to and from school.
Snow wasn’t far behind and was often a heavy accumulation.
By the 31st of October it was pretty much
winter. Halloween Trick or Treating was
no fun because it was cold, windy, and we often tramped door to door in
snow. Plus, our winter coats and snowsuits
completely eliminated any hint of the terrific Halloween costumes we were
wearing. Probably why Halloween is my
LEAST favorite holiday!
When I left home for my Freshman year at BYU, my dad
and I packed my stuff into his truck camper on the evening of the 14th of September. I was supposed to report at my dorm on the 15th,
so we planned to leave early, early the next morning for the 8-hour trip. Only, we woke up to a terrible snowstorm. Nevertheless—I’m sure because of
my whining and lamenting that I just HAD to be in Provo that very day—my dad
and I left home in snow so blinding it was difficult to even see the road
ahead. I’m still surprised that
Interstate 80 wasn’t closed!
It took us 8 hours just to get to my sister’s house
in Green River, Wyoming, which was only 125 miles away and normally only a two- hour drive. There we spent the night,
grateful to be safely off the road. We
woke up the next morning to brilliant sunshine and a landscape completely
covered in white, but the roads were clear.
We made it to Provo without any other delays and arrived at a "snow-less" campus busy welcoming students. My 24-hour
interruption in plans wasn’t even an issue.
I checked into my dorm without fanfare, bid my dad goodbye, and went
about the business of college life.
So, you see that early winter blizzard the Willy and
Martin Mormon Pioneer Handcart companies encountered on the 19th of
October, 1856, coming across the Wyoming plains was simply nothing short of “normal”. It was devastating to the pioneers because, even though the companies left later
in the year than they should have, no one expected the weather to be deep snow
and freezing temperatures. They weren’t
prepared for that. They had hoped—and prayed—they
could outrun the possibility of bad weather.
Don’t mess with Mother Nature!
As for my four years as a BYU student in Provo, Utah,
Fall wasn’t too bad for the most part.
It was often downright nice with some colored leaves on the trees and yellow scrub Oak on the mountain. I even
remember a November day at the football game being downright hot in my lovely
sweater dress! (Everyone dressed up to go see the Cougars play. In fact, most events at BYU at that time were
dress-up occasions.)
When I went to Denver to work after I graduated from BYU, Fall was mostly colorful with pleasant temperatures, though some years there was that freakish early snowstorm which had a tendency to freeze all the foliage and leave a lot of tree damage. But those storms didn’t last long, and there were many days plentiful with sunshine and deep blue skies. My older daughter got married on one of those days--ironically it was October 19, 1997.
THEN I moved to Virginia. It was September when we arrived, and all the
world was still green. When the leaves
turned, it was a kaleidoscope of color—Maple, Ash, Redbud, Hickory, and Black
Walnut trees burst with red, orange, and purple in addition to the yellows
which made everything spectacular.
My 5th child was born on October 21st
in Newport News. As uncomfortable as I
was on that long trip to Riverside Hospital, (let’s face it, I was in PAIN)
still I couldn’t get over what an awesome panoramic view we had while driving down the
Colonial Parkway which was flanked by those beautiful trees in their gorgeous
Fall raiment. It was breathtaking!
After THAT we moved to southern Sweden. In spite of the fact that the colors in
Scandinavia are not as intense as I’ve seen in other parts of the world, the
Beech, Oak, Ash, Birch, Spruce, and Pine combined to make really lovely Fall
landscapes. I always thought of the
vista there as being “lacy”. And an
added bonus for Fall in Skone were the Christmas markets that began in early
November. What fun that was!
Next, we moved to upstate New York where Goldspire,
and Royal Purple Smoke Trees as well as the common deciduous trees like Ash,
Maple, Beech, Birch and Oak were plentiful.
Here we could actually rake up HUGE piles of colorful leaves to jump in
and feed into giant bonfires. Oh Fall…how
beautiful it was then. I loved that we
were able to do all the fun things I used to just read about in books—the wagon
rides, the barnyard visits, and the spiced cider as we mingled with friends and
neighbors.
Moving to West Berlin, Germany, brought back the
heavy, heavy colors we had seen in Virginia and New York. And I will never forget the yellow gold of
the Linden Trees which lined Unter Den Linden, the road which leads from West
to East Belin through the Brandenburg Gate—though when we lived there the Wall
was still up and you couldn’t go all the way down to the end of the road. But the glimpse into the horizon with the golden
Linden trees forming a canopy was still spectacular.
No wonder October Fest is such a great occasion in
Germany. All that color made for a fine backdrop
to a fun celebration!
So, no, I never liked Fall—until I moved to other
places and saw the beauty of Fall as it was intended to be, not cut short with
premature frost and debilitating early snow.
Now I love Fall!
I can appreciate the deep blue skies and bright sunshine with pleasant
temperatures when that’s on the weather menu.
When the weather menu calls for cold temps and snow, I know it usually
won’t last. The sun will come out again
and make for a beautiful prelude to my favorite holiday—THANKSGIVING—which
signals the end of Fall!
But I still don’t like Halloween….
