09/22/2026
Ah, autumn… my favorite season.
Something about it feels so nostalgic to me.
Memories of my grandparents' yard. I grew up next door to them, and every fall it was covered in the most beautiful red and orange leaves from the big old maple trees. My grandma spent hours raking them into piles and burning them. That smell. 🧡
Walking to and from school, listening to the leaves crunch under my feet. Collecting acorns from the tree in front of the school. Crisp, cool nights when the smell of dried leaves seemed to perfume the air.
The Halloween parade at school. Coloring pictures of pumpkins, witches and black cats. Carving jack-o'-lanterns with my dad at the newspaper-covered kitchen table. Roasting the seeds (that never tasted very good 😂). Trick-or-treating in those colorful plastic masks that always made me sweat, and the elastic band inevitably getting tangled in my hair.
Maybe that's part of why autumn has always felt so comforting to me. It's a cozy season that somehow feels like home. Warm sweaters, chilly evenings, soft blankets and familiar scents. It's a feeling of being safe, cozy and exactly where I'm supposed to be.
One of my favorite quotes is that trees are about to show us how lovely it is to let things go. And that rings especially true for me this year, as I've made my mental health a priority and have been working on doing just that.
Another (HOT) summer is over, and winter will be here before we know it. But autumn is a reminder that a season of rest and renewal is upon us. A time to pause, reflect and realign.
Nature itself seems to slow down, shedding what is no longer needed in preparation for the quiet dormancy of winter. And maybe we're meant to do the same. To let go. To reassess. To make room for what comes next. To think about what we want to carry into the next season, and what we're finally ready to leave behind.
Ah, autumn. A season of transformation, rest, peace. Beautiful and rich not only with some of my favorite childhood memories, but also with the reminder that letting go can be beautiful, too. 🤎