Writing Sample 3

Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn (Friday, September 8, 2006 - Community Editorial Board, Welland Tribune)

Most people celebrate New Year's Day as a time of change.  The start of a new year seems like the appropriate time to reflect on the past, make resolutions for improvements and decide on a course for the future......a time to make decisions that will change our lives.

That's most people.  But for me, January 1st is the start of a long, depressing, stagnant winter with no change in sight for months.  The thrill of the first snow fall of the year has worn thin and scenes of lovely snow gently cascading from the sky leads to endless shoveling, wet, dirty roads, and frigid cold.   The excitement of my favourite holidays - Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas - has passed and all that remains is the debt incurred from gift giving, the extra weight added from holiday parties and three months of waiting for Spring to emerge.

Autumn, on the other hand, has always been a magical time of year for me. There is nothing but promise and anticipation in the air. Trite resolutions are not required, they are implied ... anticipated, even. The humid, carefree summer makes way for the cool, crisp Fall air, apples, pumpkins and sweaters. The constant drone of the air conditioner is replaced by the reassuring sound of outside activity. School's in, and it's time to expand the mind, maybe brush up on the Classics, and learn a new language. I will do better, I will be better. As nature transforms itself into a Red, Brown, Orange and Yellow Shangri-la, so too will I be transformed. William Cullen Bryant called Autumn, "the year's last, loveliest smile" and I agree.

I'm sure these feelings towards Fall come from revolving my life around school. There was nothing better as a kid than the build up to a new school year: shopping for new pencil crayons and binders, new clothes and shoes for school; which teacher would I have this year, will I still have all the same classmates? Would the school look different inside than it did two months ago? Would we have a new principal?  Would my classmates look different this year?  Would they see how I changed over the Summer?  And later, as I prepared to go off to university: Would I love my new city as much as my hometown? What will it be like living in my own apartment? Who would be my favourite professor? Where will I work?

So many questions, and the excitement......the anticipation... was excruciating and so very thrilling.  The very best part is the anticipation.

But school isn't the only thing that is revived in Fall. Action packed Hollywood blockbusters are replaced by Oscar contenders.... dramatic true-crime documentaries and meaningful love stories at the cinema. Musical artists release their new records and tour to promote those albums. Generic Summer non-fashion is replaced on store hangers with rich colors, textures and fabrics.  Root vegetables and apples appear on produce shelves and there is the beautiful aroma of wood burning in the air almost every night.

True, the days are shorter, but nothing beats the Fall colours on trees. One of my great joys in Fall is driving down the 406 towards St. Catharines, overwhelmed by the tunnel of color virtually the whole way. (I only hope the widening of the 406 hasn't changed that too much.)  Another Fall pleasure is sitting in front of my fireplace with a glass of Cognac after a long day at work.  Fall is the bearer of many special pleasures that can not be duplicated in Summer.
    
The truth is, even now that I am no longer in school, I still feel the promise of accomplishment hanging expectantly in the September air. It seems to be all around.  Suddenly, there are a million things to do: Niagara Greek Festival, Scottish Highland Games, House Tours, Niagara Regional Exhibition, Croatian open house, Food Festival, Avaia, Chinese Lantern Festival, Hungarian Open House, Royal Winter Fair.  Sure there are festivals and many things to do in the summer. But spending a humid day outside in the middle of July doesn't appeal to me, unless of course it's spent lazing around at my grandparents' pool under a shady umbrella with a cold bottle of water in my hand and sunglasses on my face.  Also, Summer festivals are for tourists.  Fall festivals for the locals.  Its a different kind of crowd, a hometown crowd.

There is no concept of "time" in Summer. The moments are consumed by the season itself. There is no time for planning, only living.  Each season has a natural rhythm and Summer's is leisurely and nonchalant ... no time for trying new things, rather a time for basking in the familiar.  It's a time for casual get-togethers, easy clothes and hair and spur of the moment meetings. People are away from work and everything gets postponed until another time. The mood in Summer is jovial and carefree.
    
Fall, on the other hand, is the perfect time for pursuing dreams and taking on new projects. Many cultures recognize Fall as the season of the harvest, and celebrate the bounty of the earth.  Fall is a productive season, where things naturally get done. People recommit to activities and projects and plans, and catch up on what they've missed all Summer.
Kids go to school and talk about "what I did on my summer vacation" and adults do the same around the water cooler at work.   Fall is an invigorating time of year. Everything seems new again.

Emily Bronte said, "Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the Autumn tree."   Instead of mourning Summer, I embrace Autumn and let its beauty speak bliss to me.