Words On Autumn

This is from a journal entry I made last month, before I started this blog. I feel like now is the perfect time to post it though.

20-9-09

- On Autumn

Today is a perfect day. I have spent the majority of the day outside and have not even come close to being what I would consider hot. The temperature today has hovered consistently at about seventy degrees, and their has been a slight breeze to make things even balmier. The sky has also remained a pristine azure for the entire day.
The walk through Central Park was serene. There were many people there, as their often are, but the atmosphere was characteristically relaxed and slow. I have been fortunate enough to have been listening to the song of birds all day, something that is conspicuously absent from city life.
This is the most beautiful time of year, surpassed only by what will come in the next several weeks. The waning days of summer, though they mean school will once again enter my daily life, are often the most cherished days on my calendar. The sun still provides light late into the evening, but the temperature of the air gets cooler by degrees. The color of the leaves slowly changes, and yes it's corny and rather obvious, but those moments always instill in me thoughts of; reflection, the passage of time, and an appreciation for everyday things.
As the air becomes cooler it becomes more pleasant to be outside. Maybe I will be able to go to upstate New York and experience the season briefly in the small town aesthetic that goes hand in hand with this kind of seasonal change. Though I am often cynical, there is nothing quite like the feeling one is possessed by when participating in yearly autumnal rituals.
Some of my best memories come from this time of year. I often tend to think that this is mostly because my birthday happens right at the peak of tthe fall season, but there is more to it than that. Fall is the time when, as a child, you participate in on the most fun and exciting events ever in a way that you can never do again. This event is of course Halloween. Halloween is a time for kids, or at least it was for me, that can rival birthdays and Christmas in terms of excitement. What other time of year is dressing up in fantastic costumes, roaming the streets in search of candy, and causing general havoc so universally accepted and celebrated? Not only that, but you become a gang with your friends, sticking together throughout the night, and only retreating to your home when everyone's appetite for candy has been satiated. Bonds created on Halloween night last a lifetime and can almost never be broken.
Fall is also the time when you try to cram all the days of outdoor fun in you can before it becomes unbearably cold and one cannot go outside without donning a suit of heavily stuffed armor. This leads to last chance football games, bike riding, skateboarding, and general play, all of which consistently yield unforgettable results.
Beyond the realm of friends, some of the best memories I have with my father also come from the Autumn time of year. Playing catch till the sun goes down, we didn't stop throwing the baseball until October ended, at which point it was time to break out the pigskin. We used to play football until we couldn't see where we were throwing, and then for a little while after. We would alternate between who would run routes and who would quarterback. My father is the one I owe for my marginal prowess in the realm of sports, and those lessons mostly came to me in the fall.
This brings me to the next great thing about Autumn, and that is football season. besides baseball, which as a Cubs fan is mostly over before Fall gets anywhere close, football is the greatest American sport. It's only shortcoming is that the season is too short. Well it's not actually all that short, considering the competitive season just started and the Super Bowl won't crown a champion until February, but number of games is too few. Every other aspect of the game is perfect and appeals to all the male sensibilities. If there is one regret I have in life, it is that I did not pursue a career in football. Granted that this could have greatly changed my circle of friends and present situation, but I have always wanted to have the chance to pit my raw strength, cunning, agility, and determination against another man's and crush him. What better arena is there for that exact purpose than the gridiron? The most civilized version of war-like combat, football pits man against man in an all out contest of sheer physical endurance and brute strength. Bit it is not just a contest of brawn. Football is a game that requires and amazing ability to think on ones feet and be able to change the plan of attack based on split second changes in the situation. Success in Football is also entirely dependent on one teams ability to outmaneuver the "enemy." This is achieved by trying to make unique but sensible play calls, which more often than not are thwarted by the opposing teams relentless defense. This small journal does not contain adequate space to describe in detail every aspect of the game, but it is one of the most fascinating, multi-layered games on the planet and also the most fiercely American. It's also the best game to watch after stuffing yourself with turkey, which leads me to my final and most favorite thing about the Autumn season, Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is without a doubt the best time of year. It has all the homey nostalgia of Christmas, without all the shameless commercial and consumerism. It is a time for families to come together and simply enjoy each others company. There are of course nay-sayers who point out that Thanksgiving is just a shameful endorsement of gluttony, and that it is essentially a holiday that snubs other parts of the world. There may be some credence to that, but thanksgiving is not simply about stuffing yourself and falling asleep. It is a ritual that has ceased to be just American, and has become Human. That being said, I have also never been ot a Thanksgiving dinner where food has gone to waste. Not that every single scrap of food is devoured in one night, but leftovers are taken and consumed for days afterwards, ensuring that no food has gone to waste. Beyond the feasting though, Thanksgiving is first and foremost a time to come together with people who though you may not see them everyday, are still an important part of your life and have a good time.
In my zeal to rattle off my favorite things about the fall season, I seem to have missed talking about one of my most enjoyed Autumnal activities. I love it when the air reaches that perpetual cool, and blazing sunlight is accompanied by a brisk breeze. The leaves are slowly falling from the trees but even the ones that are still hanging on have turned golden and red, and the leaves on the ground shatter under foot like paper thin sheets of ice. Taking a walk in this type of weather, with the sky the most beautiful, pristine shade of blue, is an unrivaled past time of mine. The sickly sweet smell of rotting foliage fills the air, and even with eyes closed a breath through the nose will remind you of what season it is. Autumn is the Earth's golden age an I am eternally grateful to be able to live in a place where it's coming is os predictable and dramatic. Every year the leaves change, I am more impressed than the last.