Fall has always been my favorite season even though I've never experienced a REAL fall. Where I'm from, fall is the cool 63-degree weather, the leaves would still fall, but usually, it just made a mess. No one back home was ever excited for fall, except for football season and the holidays, but not me. It was fall and that meant cool(er) weather, hot tea, sweaters and the leaves sort of falling. However, now being in Boise, I get to finally experience the fall weather that I've always been infatuated with since I saw my first picture of an entirely red and yellow forest.
I am actually so obsessed with fall that it's been my computer background since I accepted to BSU and friends have told me to shut up about how excited I am for fall. I mean the leaves actually change colors here and not just pathetically fall to the ground and make a mess everywhere. Leaves changing colors is a beautiful process that I think everyone should appreciate more.
However, seasons also a weird thing for me. SoCal doesn't change temperature much, which is one of its more appealing qualities for out-of-towners. After living in the same 65-85 degree weather, you can get quite bored. Having progressively hot summers followed by a slight cool-down and maybe some rain if we're lucky (last year we were not…) is not that exciting year after year. So, living somewhere where there are visible changes between seasons, is a big reason that drew me to come here, to a place where death becomes an array of colors; where it becomes something beautiful.
My first experience with the leaves beginning to change was utter glee, that and collecting leaves. They've all died now, however, my window looked pretty for a couple of days. I've gotten some weird looks when I pick up leaves and friends of mine will roll their eyes when I say how cold it is (57 degrees is considered cold from where I am). But despite the anxiety from those weird looks or the annoyance of my friends, I will still enjoy every leaf that turns yellow or red and falls. I will still love how the breeze is cold on my face. I will still enjoy fall rains and being cold all the time. Because it's new, it's different, and I love it.
