Paul sears

One thing I miss about living in the northeast, besides my family and friends, is the four separate seasons, but mainly fall. There is something so wonderful about the fall season. The air is crisp, the nights are chilly and I start thinking about sweaters and boots, flannels, heavy socks. But I live in Texas now. In North Texas where fall doesn’t really exist.

We are finally reaching fall weather here in Texas, and by that I mean the temperature has leveled out in the 70’s during the day and 60’s over night. As the weeks go by there will be nights in the 50’s and now that the humidity has died down I’ve been sleeping with the windows open. Fall makes me long for my home town in the north-east.

I lived in Northeast Pennsylvania where the endless mountains and forests are breathtaking once Fall rolls in. The leaves start to change into rolling mountains of red, yellow and gold. The smell of wood and leaves burning fills the air. Even the people in the area change with the season. Once fall comes around people moving a little slower. You can feel it in the air that something is changing. Summer is at an end.

There is a longing, almost a grievance, like the death of summer is something no one wants to admit. As people prepare for the long and often times brutal winter they quietly hold on to the last days of sunlight. There are pumpkin patches and hay rides. Haunted attractions drawing people into the woods on foot or on the back of tractors that lure you into the dark unknown. Before you know it winter is here and there’s no going back.

Fall in North Texas is quite different from that. The leaves turn color quickly since summer pretty much turns into winter in a blink of an eye. Summers are extremely hot, which was a big reason I moved here, I wanted a long hot summer and a short-lived winter. What hadn’t occurred to me before moving here was I’d miss out on the transformation seasons. The things I associate with fall all come from my upbringing in the northeast where people revolve around the weather. When it’s a nice fall day people are out in herds trying to soak up the last bit of warmth before its gone. Long drives or walks through tree lined roads or trails to take in the foliage, bonfire nights with beer and friends with hoodies are some of my favorite things to do. They are lost here.

I guess it’s the weather here lately that has me thinking about my old home. The thing about loving fall is knowing that one day very soon it’ll be nothing but freezing temperatures and snow and for me, that was always the worst part about living up there. Living in Texas, winter isn’t so much a thing. It lasts for a few months and there is rarely snow. The temperature stays around the high 30’s to mid 40’s. The sun still shines everyday. For me, missing fall isn’t enough for me to move back. The summers are short and mild at best. I love the heat more then a couple months of chilly sweater weather.