Lovely Autumn

The rain and the wind slowly but inevitably rob the trees of their splendor. In a matter of weeks we will see nothing but cold barren skeletons that only serve to remind us of the beauty that has been stripped away. Like a gorgeous woman whose beauty has slowly been eroded, scrubbed away by the sands of time to leave an old wrinkled hag, a faint and distant echo of what she once was. The colors of the leaves themselves are a harbinger of death themselves, the radiance of the fall kaliedascope simply a thin veiling of the death the leaves are experiencing. Their short lives are coming to an end. They hang on stubbornly but eventually die and wither, falling to the ground to be deliciously crunched and oblitereted, and often, burned.

The gray skies are starting to become more and more common, echoing the moods and outlooks of the people the dismal weather affects. The cold, wet rain is driven by the angry winds coming out of the north, not so subtly hinting at the freezing tempatures that lie just a few weeks out. The sun feels like a stranger, it is rare and surprising when it shows up. It carries little of the warmth we remember, it is a friend that we have grown away from and we wonder if we overestimated the relationship.

A funereal pall is cast over our lives. We can only watch in sorrow as the warmth and light flees the area for another deadening, soul-sucking winter. Soon the streets will be full of dirty, frozen slush. We will feel the wind biting our exposed skin and making a mockery of our attempts to ward it off. We will step into a icy puddle of water, soaking our shoes and socks. White knuckles will grab steering wheels, as if clenching it will increase the grip of our tires on the icy roads. It is coming soon.

Winter. We have chosen to live here so we have no right to complain. We must endure, if we can, another 6 months of everything being cold and wet. The world turns to black and white, the color fleeing with the warmth and sun.

Heating bills will be opened in great trepidation. We will wish and dream and hope before we see the astronomically inflated number. We will turn down the thermostat and swear to bundle up, until it is so cold in our homes that we don't even dare to leave the semi-warmth of the blankets we are bundled under. Than we return to the thermostat and hope that somehow the energy company makes a mistake.

We wake in darkness, drive to work in darkness and when we head home, again, darkness. There is no reason to go outdoors. Going outside feels like an expidition, requiring a ridiculous amount of clothing and preparation. Gone are the days when you can run outside barefoot with a t-shirth on. Taking the trash out becomes a real chore.

Winter isn't just a season, it is an oppressive, depressing presence seeking to smother us all in despair.

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!!!!!