Autumn Leaves

Autumn leaves
Drift by my window
Autumn leaves
Of red and gold
I see your lips
The summer kisses
The sunburned hand
I used to hold

As fall is by far my favorite season, so is Autumn Leaves my favorite jazz standard. It’s a heart-wrenching song of lost love, but in the fall it doesn’t make me sad; it just makes me reminisce. Summer is over. The heat, shorts, flip flops, sweet veggies. Gone. Happily, I now don long sleeves, long pants, boots, a light jacket. And smile. Walking through the falling leaves, hearing their crunch underfoot. Seeing the golden fields of grass, the green of summer fading into brilliant colors, then drab. I am in love.

People often talk about loving spring, finally a break from the snow and cold. But me, I only think of spring as wet, yucky, unpredictable. As Van Morrison says, “when I hear that robin sing, well I know it must be coming on spring, oo-we, we’re starting a new life”. I feel restless, ready for something new. In the fall, however, I revel in where I am today. Everything is more charming, smells better, tastes better.

Halloween is my all-time favorite holiday. It brings out my inner kid (always just under the surface anyway). Getting dressed up in costume is always a kick for me. It’s my one (or three) day a year that I get to be someone else and no one questions my sanity.

I find I even crave certain albums. I search my stacks of cds, finding Neil Young’s Harvest Moon, Rufus Wainwright’s Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk, Oingo Boingo, Combustible Edison.

So, welcome back autumn! So happy to see you!