Looking Forward to Fall

“Can’t explain, there’s something strange about the early fall. It’s a comfort leaving me without a care. I remain, but everything around me hears the call. And tonight, I feel a change in the air.”
— From a Clint Black song

Whenever the calendar reads September, I begin to eagerly look forward to fall.

I know the weather hasn’t completely changed yet, as warm temperatures continue to plague us. We’ll still have several more weeks of summertime weather to deal with, but I’ve always looked to the beginning of September as a signal to let me know fall is only a short time away.

Fall has always been my favorite season of the year. An argument can certainly be made for spring, but give me fall when there is a touch of cool in the air, the leaves start to change colors and the grass doesn’t start growing as soon as I put away my lawn mower. You can completely leave out summer and winter. The two extreme seasons do nothing for me.
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Being the die-hard football fan that I am, I long for those cool, Friday nights at the local high school field. Football doesn’t seem like football until you can see your breath by the time the game is over and you have to buy at least one cup of hot chocolate.

Fall is also a time when I actually enjoy being outside. It’s not that way during the weeks prior when it is summer. Losing five pounds of sweat when you cut the grass is not exactly a pleasant experience. Working up a sweat just by being outside for five minutes is something I can always do without. Summer also means fire ants and stinging bugs like wasps and hornets. Ouch.

However, fall is different. Fall is a time when I notice the beauty of our land. It’s hard not to. From the muti-colored leaves you see, especially in the North Georgia area, to what I call “fall landscaping” when many people place bales of hay, pumpkins and various other items in the front yard.

Fall also means Halloween, which for some strange reason was always one of my favorite days of the year as a kid. I say strange because living in the country as I did growing up, we hardly ever had anyone stop by trick-or-treating. I probably only went twice myself as a youngster. Yet, there were always Halloween parties at school as well as fall carnivals, which I always enjoyed attending.

Fall also means family cookouts and family gatherings. It means a trip to Hurricane Shoals in nearby Jackson County on a pleasant, peaceful Sunday afternoon. Family is important throughout the year, but the fall season seems to drive home that point.

While it could still be another month before we step outside and truly know it’s fall, it will be here soon. I long for the mornings when the cool in the air strikes you when you open the door to walk to your car to leave for work and the day’s other activities.

As for me, I think I’ll dig out the Clint Black “One Emotion” CD which features the song “Change in the Air.” The lyrics seem to sum up it well when the cowboyed-hat singer croons, “There’s something talking in the wind, whispering through the trees. That feeling in my bones again, just puts me right at ease. It takes me back to all the times I’ve been here before. But crossroads, old familiar signs, tell me there’s something more.”

Indeed.

Monticello native Chris Bridges is a reporter and columnist for Mainstreet Newspapers in Jefferson. Contact him at 706-367-2745 or e-mail comments to chris@mainstreetnews.com.