Fall is my favorite time of year! The colorful hues on the trees and vegetation that illuminate in the sunshine, the smells of pumpkin bread baking and spiced cider with cinnamon, the brisk leafy-smell morning air, and a hint of a newly-lit fireplace in the night air, all conjure up fond Fall feelings. My earliest Fall memory that has endeared this season to me occurred when I was in Kindergarten. My family lived in a three-story house built by my dad and older brothers in the Salem, Utah mountains in the 1970’s. I had just exited the school bus, a short walk down the hill to my house. I remember the crunch of the leaves under my feet and the anticipation of getting home to my mom and the little ones too small to go to school.
As I opened the front door on that Fall day, the smell of pumpkin cookies baking, the sight of the familiar ceramic pumpkin and other fall décor and the melodic sound of my mom’s voice and embrace greeting me after another day at Kindergarten all enveloped me. In that moment, I remember thinking “This is home!” It was the most comforting, safe, pleasant place I had known. Everything about it defined what I considered to be a happy home. Through the nearly five decades since then, I have tried to recreate that feeling for my children.
One Fall day I received a phone call from my oldest son, who was grown and gone from home. He said, “Mom, I’ll bet you are baking pumpkin bread, and let me guess . . . you have the leaves and orange lights on the mantle and the glass pumpkin on the table”. I confirmed that those same traditions continued, even without him. He then sighed and with a sincere, reflective voice said, “Ahhh, mom I love Fall!”
By Chrisy Cope
