The wind is whistling outside.  The candles are flickering on my countertops.  There is bacon sizzling on the stove and hot water boiling in the tea pot.  Norah Jones is crooning in the background and my gray cotton jacket is zipped up around me.  The windows are open a crack and it smells like drying leaves.


My heart is overflowing.  Fall is here.


At last, I greet you, my long lost friend.  You’ve come back again and I want to wrap you in my arms and make you stay forever.  I want this moment, this zap in the space of history, to surround me and stay with me always.


As much as I love Christmas (and you know I do!), Fall is my favorite season.  It’s romantic.  It’s beautiful.  It’s perfect.  If I could find a place in the world that was Midwestern Fall all year around, I would move there without a drop of hesitation.  I would spend the rest of my life basking in all of this joy that has dropped into my spirit in a matter of one day.