pumpkin seeds and fallen leaves...

fall is my favorite season. i think that my nose is extra sensitive to the smells of fall - morning dew, tilled ground, roasting pumpkin seeds. i love walking out on my porch to go for my run and having the crisp, cool air hit my lungs like a tidal wave, possibly even a tsunami, when my body immediately experiences a slight shiver....

... and yet i head out regardless. the beauty that i am surrounded by causes a flood of memories to overflow into my brain. at times, it can be overwhelming, but it is a pleasant sort of flood. it reminds me of my days back in junior/senior year of high school, driving with the windows down on the back roads, just to catch the smell of the fall harvest. or of the cool evening walks in my favorite park, and the butterflies-in-your-belly feeling of holding hands for the first time, every time...

the crunching of leaves and snapping of sticks causes another onslaught of nostalgia, reminding me of the days of endless training for 22:00 minutes of proving endurance and strength. the laughter and pain that was included on these 4.5, 6, 8, 10, or 12 mile runs. the smells of sweat and trees mixed together brings me back to this place, regardless of the city that the leaves and sticks are located in...i've been told that smell is the sense most linked to memory, and the fall teaches me that this is true. The strange thing is that even if every time I step out of the door I am met with a similar smell, the nostalgic onslaught is unpredictable. being type A, i typically don't like unpredictability. but this type of unplanned nostalgia, i long for...

fall is my favorite season. i love wearing my men's white v-neck t-shirt and favorite jeans, maybe a colorful necklace to spruce it up; then heading out for a walk with my loves and camera, followed by a home-cooked me served by the fire. it's an i-never-want-this-moment-to-end type feeling. i am so ready for the fall, as each one proves to be better than the last...