There is So Much to Love About Autumn

(日本語版あり)

This is Part III of a four-part series in English on my pontification on the four seasons.

For me, the fall will always mark the beginning of a new year.  For nearly two decades, September is when I progressed one year in the educational ladder.  Now that I’m working,  fall is when I tack on another year in my experience as a working professional.  I’ve always loved this season because it’s when I can reset and refresh, feel like I am starting anew.

But it’s not just the feeling of new beginnings that I love about the autumn.

For starters, autumn marks the end of the season that I hate.  Just as the spring is the worst of the four months because it precedes the most insufferable season, autumn is the best because it’s followed by the season that I love.  The daily experience of feeling the temperature gradually drop while the cool breeze picks up is something that doesn’t last long enough every year.

Japan is a country where the season that I shall not speak of overstays its unwelcome for a good month so September isn’t as nice as it used to be when I lived in the Northeast in the United States.  There is, though, one benefit to September in Japan.  I’ve always had an unexplainable fascination with rain storms, which means that I’ve been mesmerized by the amazing power of hurricanes, that show of force by nature simply through wind and rain.  I now get to experience what a force that’s powerful enough to slam me into a building is like first hand, and my sense of fascination is now mixed in with a sense of fright.

I know people find spring in Japan to be the most scenic season because of the cherry blossoms, but I don’t think even the best of what Japan has to offer can beat the autumn in the Northeast.  I’ll never forget the  drive up I would make each year from New Jersey to Boston in September to return to school. The closer I got to Boston, the more the leaves have changed their colors, and I knew I was back in school when no trees were monocolor and more trees have lost leaves than not.

My mom doesn’t like the fall because she finds the falling leaves depressing, but I find indescribable beauty in the red, yellow and brown leaves rustling in the wind.  Yes, it marks an end of the year, but now that I think about it, I think I find an odd comfort in the symmetry between a new beginning for me and an end of the cycle for nature.

It’s not just mother nature that gets pleasant in the fall.  September is when I start to see articles on espn.com that I want to take time reading through every morning.  Baseball may be a summer sport, but it’s hard for me to care about every game in a 162-game season.   Late August into September is about the right time to start paying attention.   In a great year, like two years ago, I get to witness a historic Red Sox collapse in September.  In a bad year like this one, I get to suffer through the Yankees stink their way out of a playoff spot.  It’s in the fall when baseball games begin to matter.

As great as baseball in the autumn is, it’s football that defines my autumn.  Seven months is far too long of a wait between Super Bowl Sunday in February and season kickoff weekend in the last week of August.

Football season is doubly special because I get to enjoy it at two levels.  September is when I’m fully engaged in pro and college football as my beloved New England Patriots and Boston College Eagles are usually winning games.  By October, I begin to get the sense that my alma mater won’t be able to remain relevant through the end of the month, and by November, I’ve given up college and starting to focus on playoff implications for the Patriots.  Autumn is when my moods become eminently predictable, for it all gets determined on what happens on Saturday and Sunday (and, if I’m lucky, Monday).

Autumn is one of those gifts from God where it seems like everything comes together.  It’s not only pleasant to be outside, but also beautiful to see.  If my mood is to be indoors, there’s plenty of things to do and get excited about indoors.  The season of autumn is special all the way to the end.  Thanksgiving, that most wonderful of holidays in the States, marks the official end of fall (at least for me), as the weather begins to feel exactly right and the Holiday spirits fill the air.  Yes, I love the fall.  It’s a shame it only comes once a year.

Series Navigation

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