It's fall again and with the inevitable shift in seasons comes that old familiar feeling. You know the one. It comes every year no matter how you try and prevent it. That one that makes us dread the cold and the rain that fall escorts in so proudly, like an usher leading your loud and obnoxious cousin who talks with a lisp to sit next to you at the wedding. It's the feeling you would get if you came home to find your home ransacked and everything important to you not only stolen but set ablaze in your backyard. That feeling that you get when you've made a mistake that you want to take back, wishing with every part of you that you could just turn back time a few minutes, or hours, or days and try again. Well you can't. And all your belongings that are incinerating in your backyard, it's too late for them. And your cousin? Hope you brought a handkerchief, because he's not going anywhere. That's right boys and girls, fall is here. And this year, as every year, he's brought a friend, Winter. And by the time he gets here you'll have wished for death so many times you may already be dead and not know it.
But it doesn't have to be that way. And I'm not saying everyone feels this way. Just those of you with brains. Summer is fun and if you don't feel that way why don't you just move to the north pole and leave the rest of us sane folk to talk amongst ourselves and go to the beach. If you don't like sun there's a probably a shuttle going to Pluto sometime next year. Please be on it. Let's face it, misery loves company and this year is no exception.
But like I said, it really doesn't have to be this way. And you don't have to abandon ship and move to Arizona or Florida with the rest of the aging octogenarians who have already decided it wasn't worth the trouble. You just have to take a deep breath and look up long enough for a drop of rain to go in your eye to realize that it's not acid, it's water. And you're not going to melt. And every giant maple leaf that flutters to the ground isn't a Chinese Throwing Star with your name on it. And every mud puddle that forms isn't a pit of quicksand waiting to swallow you up. In fact, I'll bet once you put on that favorite warm coat and hat of yours you're going to feel a whole lot better. That's right, zip it up and pull that warm hat down over your head. Feels good doesn't it? I know it does. Let's face it, it feels good to be wrapped up, cozy and comfortable. So twist that scarf around your neck and let that wind blow, not even Old Man Winter's ice-chisel can penetrate that armor. Now open that door, head out into the storm and smile as you turn your face into the wind. Because you know it, and so does everybody else, you look good.
