My favorite season is — and always has been — fall. I mean, it has two whole names for it, unlike every other season. But other than that, there’s something beautiful about fall that the other seasons don’t have. People tend to laud summer for its warmth and life or winter for the snow and holidays. Fall ends up getting wedged between the two, with some people disappointed summer is over and the rest waiting for it to end so winter will arrive.
Especially in New England, where the weather is always changing, fall is full of complaints about how cold it is, how early the sun sets and everything else “wrong” with the season. Even spring, fall’s transitionary season counterpart, has a more exciting energy behind it since you can see the rebirth and return of color and life. Most people like to live in a world of extremes which leaves the in-betweens to be under appreciated.
There are so many things to do in the fall that tend to get lost in the middle since they’re not the “perfect” activity. Since fall isn’t always warm or freezing, there isn’t a set way or place to enjoy the season like other seasons have. In summer, you soak up the sun and spend as much time outside as possible. In winter, you bundle up inside or brave the outdoors to make use of the snow and ice. But fall? There’s no snow to play in, but you can’t exactly lounge in the sun either. It’s the perfect time however, to combine the two. A nice warm sweatshirt? A cozy fire with a blanket? A cup of cocoa? In the winter these are nice, but we do them because we would be freezing without them. In the fall, it’s just for our own enjoyment. There are so many minute things to do in fall for pure enjoyment rather than survival needs but because we are not experiencing extremes, we don’t appreciate them for what they are.
On top of this, fall is the most plentiful season with the best weather for harvests. We don’t notice it as much now with the ability for global shipping, but many fruits and vegetables are meant to be picked in the fall. There’s a reason apple picking and carving pumpkins happen in the fall — it’s the only time they can happen. Even vegetables in the store are bigger and better in the fall. Our ancestors celebrated fall with countless harvests and parties, recognizing the bounty in the season. But now, we don’t seem to acknowledge how much comes out of such a short period of time. In fact, we only tend to see what we lose in fall, not what we gain.
People often see fall as the season where everything is just dying. But it’s not “just” dying; there’s so much more to it. Everything will die one day. That’s a fact of the world we live in. It’s a sad fact, and it leads to a stigma around discussing death, especially when it comes to humans. However, this stigma breaks into all life. We see leaves fall and grass shrivel and all of a sudden we convince ourselves this is a bad thing, that death is something to be hated and feared. But death is just the next step in life. New flowers cannot bloom without old ones giving up their space.
This process could very well be boring and efficient; one day there’s leaves, the next there’s not. But in New England, we’re granted a show. There’s a spectacle of colors celebrating the death of foliage. If the trees themselves celebrate their passing, why shouldn’t we? We need to take a second to stop and take in the little beauties this season brings us before we forget what it is to live beautifully.