Autumn

It's official; autumn comes early this year. For the past two weeks I have been noticing the breeze drop ever so slightly in temperature and the normally humid heat be replaced with surprisingly pleasant warmth. For Georgia (where I live), this change is almost unheard of. August is usually the hottest month of the year. Heat from the summer builds up constantly and then lingers at the boiling point all throughout the month. At least, that is what I have come to expect in my fifteen years in what I feel to be my home state. But this year things are different.

I had been contemplating this change for the past few weeks but was unready to document it until today. I tend towards over-enthusiasm rather often, so when I felt autumn (probably my favorite season) coming on a few weeks ago, I doubted myself. If anyone was going to grasp at false alarms, it would be me. But today my wife mentioned that there was indeed something different in the air, so now I have reason to believe. And even if heat waves follow on the heels of the turning tide, I will nonetheless feel autumn in my soul henceforth.

Autumn is a special time of year for me, conjuring up all that I consider peaceful and beautiful. Mild warmth in the day followed by the brisk chill of the night and early morning - this is the best of all natural cycles. I spent four years at the University of Georgia and I always remember walking around the Myers quad very late at night in autumn, letting the contrasts of my fleece's warm interior and the surrounding cold equalize and pour a peace over me. And to me, peace is slightly melancholic.

Even before there were "good old days" for me to long for, this time of year always produced that very longing in me. It was always nostalgic and wonderful. Whether I was recalling the beginning of my college days, a hiking trip in Helen, or my late night quad ambles, autumn has always been a time to return to the past. The trees reveal it best of course; the beauty of their demise is the perfect reminder of good things gone by.

But of course, nostalgia is bittersweet, and that is what I love about it. I have long held that America has forsaken the joy to be found in timely melancholia. I do not intend to promote sadness, but rather the peace that only comes from relishing good memories instead of longing for their repeat. We in America have come to expect instant gratification in all realms of life, whether it be overnight deliveries or instant food, we demand what we want, how we want it, now. Perhaps that is why many have forgotten the joy of taking a long walk, remembering times past, and loving every moment. Those times can never come again so why spend time and energy trying to wish them back into the present, right? In fact, no. The fact that they are gone forever is what makes them most precious. That day hiking in the woods with loved ones followed by an unexpected chill and humorously unappetizing food at the local restaurant - it is worth so much because it can never be duplicated.

So maybe the joy of nostalgia is fading in America because people do not like to dwell on good things they can never have again in exactly the same way. But I think many people do in fact enjoy remembering the good old days. Now I think the problem is that everyone is so consumed with work and money that we simply fail to make those memories in the first place. No more family road trips, no more dinners together, no more conversation in the car - we want entertainment that will not cause us unfortunately bittersweet memories. We only dine on the sugar-coated foods of life. But if we took a chance on the more acquired tastes of life, we would realize that the bittersweet memories of time-consuming, non-media events are what really stick around.