I Watched the Leaves Fall: A Letter to Autumn on Healing
Dear Autumn, You’re here again. The air changed overnight, and everyone started talking about sweaters and apples and how pretty the leaves are. People post pictures of orange trees and say how cozy everything feels. I remember when I thought the same thing. Lately, you make the house feel bigger, like the rooms are stretching out and I’m smaller inside them. Sometimes I wake up and the kitchen feels too quiet, like something is waiting for me to notice it. I do the things I always do: put the kettle on, sweep crumbs off the table, make the bed, but the motion doesn’t fill anything. It’s just motion. I used to like this time of year. I liked putting out the little pumpkins on the porch, lighting a candle that smells like cinnamon, saving jars of peach jam in the pantry. Those things made sense. Then something shifted. I don’t know when the shift started exactly. It was small at first: a phone call missed, a neighbor not stopping by anymore, the son coming home later each time unt...