I don't know if it is my cultural training or my squirrel instinct, but when fall falls, I feel the need to reinvent myself through a new wardrobe and intellectual pursuits.
I've become a scholar of cuisine in the past weeks. I've been cranking out pasta from a recipe I dreamed up and soups because I've grown weary of summer salads. I've taken to books on photography and have revisited math from days gone by.
I love what I'm learning, but what I love even more is the desire to learn. I'm a summer girl, born in June and I've always owned my months of summer. As I've evolved I've taken ownership over all of the seasons. There is something magical and important in each one.
Summer allows for the shallow end of my stream, where cold brook water pools over ancient rocks and I thrive, chasing butterflies and catching crawdads. Fall brings out my apple-picker self, my acorn collector, my veiny leaf admirer and slows me down. This is where I am at right now.
As much as I want to wear my strapless dresses of summer on these hot fall days I feel like I'm a butterfly who missed the migration. I want to camouflage myself in tones of dying leaves, plaid and woolen. I'm sniffing the bindings of yellowed books in search of an intellectural drey that will keep me safe through winter.
I will nest, I will rest, but not until I've learned enough to move on.
