It's getting to be that time of year. The weather is getting cooler and brisker, the leaves are beginning to change colors, and, of course, the famed Pumpkin Spice Latte is back for the season. For many of us, including myself, fall is our favorite season. Halloween is right around the corner, comfy sweaters are back in style, and everything seems to be enveloped in a sense of nostalgia.

Many of the things that happen in the fall, such as Thanksgiving and Halloween, are celebrated with family and friends. It is a season of friendship. Our time is spent with those we love.

There are many reasons why fall is preferred by so many people. When I think of fall, I think of clear, cool days, wearing a sweater and a scarf while reading a book underneath a shady tree. (Or perhaps in the tree, as I sometimes like to do!) There are blazing bonfires on chilly nights, where countless stories are told, some sad, some scary, and some just downright funny. It is a time for cider, hot chocolate, and pumpkin and pecan pie. The food of fall is one of the many highlights of the season! Stuffing, mashed potatoes, turkey, an amazing array of desserts, the list is endless!

Most of all though, I think what entrances people the most is the feeling of fall. There is a sense of timelessness at the peak of the season. The beauty of the colors of autumn are intermingled with a sense of finality. A sense of ending and moving on. These beautiful colors of the dying leaves will fade and fall, to make way for winter and a new spring. It is a time where we can allow ourselves swept away by the moments we experience.

There are times when, on a cold, clear night with a bright full moon, or on a brisk, sunny late afternoon, I just stop. For once in my busy life and mind, I stop thinking. I abandon logic. I forsake sensibility. I just let myself be. I exist in that moment as nothing more. The feeling of that moment carries me away, and it is almost indescribable. It is like a complete, dichotomous, and simultaneous absence and presence of self. As I am aware of everything that surrounds me, I forget myself in the moment and just live. Which, I think we fail to do throughout the year. We forget to live and experience life. We get so busy sometimes, even though it is often a necessary busyness, and we neglect our own mental well-being and forget to experience every moment as we are living it.

In fall, there comes the realization that things are temporary. These trivial things will pass from this world, as will we all. But the beauty lies in how we choose to live. To live for our friends. To live for our families. To live for God.

It is our choice, and fall, among all of the tangible things it brings back with it each year, is about the passing of life from this world, and the celebration and appreciation of the lives we are given and the loved ones we are surrounded with.