Fall Already?

The past few days have been decidedly fall like around Owego. Driving back from the Berkshires in Massachusetts on Sunday, it seemed like the hot hazy of days of summer were more imaginary than reality from a few days ago. Cutting across the gash of Interstate 88, I remembered past fall drives, usually going the other way, off to school. It felt warm and it seemed that summer was still very much resident in eastern and southern New York. This trip, though, it seemed like fall was already settling its frosty extremities into the area, just barely quelled by the summery heat of the noon sun.

At first I thought that I should be mourning the short summer, and the early transference into fall, but every day that I wake up in the cool, crisp pre-autumn sunlight, I think that maybe I am ready for fall. I have been thinking about a little fall getaway for Adolfo and I to take during his fall break from Cornell in October, and the most appealing thought to me is sharing the cold days of fall in the Northeast, maybe in Cape Cod or somewhere similar. I love the feel of the wind off the ocean, its chilling breath soaking only slightly through the warm clothes that shelter us. I imagine the drive through the mountains, the riot of fall color. I imagine stealing away from town to go hiking in the bright, vivid forests around home. I think about lighting my fall candles, and a pot of cider warming on our stove, cuddling under a blanket on our couch, watching a movie together. I think I am ready for fall. I'm ready to celebrate opening my heart, fully, to this man almost a year ago.