Fall in Love

It’s that time of year again. Finally. The first inklings of fall were felt this weekend.  Sunday was a  beautiful day in the low 80’s. While that may still seem warm, the humidity was low and there was a nice breeze. But the biggest contributor to the nice weather? The fact that it got down into the 60’s at night. For the past several months, the low’s have been about 80.

I’ve lived in Texas or Florida most of my life. While the two years I spent in Ft. Worth were considerably different than Florida, it being hotter but far less humid and much more wintery winter,  Houston is very similar to Florida. Hot, humid and for a really long time. Here, summer is a 4 month period where it doesn’t get below 90. A good way of understanding the humidity is that at some points, you can get into a pool of water, and not tell because the water saturation is about the same.

These four months are preceded and followed by another month of mostly 90+ degree weather for a grand total of six hot months. The remaining 6 months aren’t exactly cool either. Late September starts to show the first signs of coolness, like yesterday. The humidity breaks and the evening lows actually get below 75. But it’s not until October that we will really see days that don’t even get into the upper 80’s and nights consistently in the 60’s.

This is where my love of fall comes from. After four solid months of humid, intense heat, the relief feels like a godsend. Growing up I can remember the first signs often coming when slogging away cutting the grass. The stale hot air would suddenly be interrupted by a cool breeze. This breeze would always give me a smile. Not only for the relief from the heat, but because it was a sign of things to come.

Fall makes me giddy. Spring is described as the season of renewal, but for me, that’s fall. The oppressive heat begins to recede. You can now sit outside and enjoy the sunshine in comfort. For majority of my life it also was the start of the school year. I enjoyed school for the most part as a kid, and especially the fall months. New teachers, new classmates, new subjects.

Spring never had that strong an appeal for me. Instead of a relief from a harsh winter, it’s just a sign of the heat to come. I still enjoy it but always in a bittersweet way. Fall brings promise of relief and the beginning of a period of comfort. Spring is the first sign of melty death.

Fall also brings with it other things. Football season begins. Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are all right around the corner.  Spring has nothing. In school you had spring break but in the adult world, after New Year’s there’s no holidays until Memorial Day. That’s almost 5 months of no holiday breaks from work. From there its something every two months.

Plus, there’s also the time change. Fall back. A weekend gets an hour longer, where as in spring, it’s an hour shorter. And who doesn’t prefer a 49hr weekend to a 47hr one?