Fall Awakening.

I love reading the status updates of my friends from Arizona. They say things like, "It's 78 degrees! Fall is finally here!" or "It's 68 degrees! What should I wear?" This, my friends, is a Southwestern Fall.

Growing up in Arizona is weird. It's wonderful, but it's just different. My friend's mother kept an oven mitt in her car (so she wouldn't burn her hand on the seat belt). We were jealous of our friends that had January birthdays, because they always got to have parties at the park. I loved having a March 5th birthday, because my mother would buy me shorts and skirts. And, I'm pretty sure my brother and I weren't the only ones who attempted to build a snowman out of frost.

Although I have no complaints about my native state, I must acknowledge that fall is soooooooooooooo much better out here on the East Coast. I get it, rest of the country. I finally get it.

Top Five Things that Make Fall So Very, Very, Awesome.

1. Pumpkin patches. I could go to a different pumpkin patch every day of the week and I still wouldn't get sick of the corn-mazing, pumpkin-picking, petting-zoo-petting, hand-sanitizer-dousing, llama-touching, tractor-riding, hot-dog eating good times.

2. Unpredictable Clothing Choices. I dress Owen in jeans. He bakes. I dress Joel in shorts. His lips turn blue. Every morning is an adventure---how, oh how, will I dress my children incorrectly today? (I've learned to just carry a hoodie at all times).

3. OMG Halloween!!! Owen will be a giraffe. Or a scarecrow. Or a scare-giraffe. Joel will be a bear. The cuteness will be so intense that the blood sugar levels of half the state will rise to dangerous levels. Don't even get me started on the mini Snickers bars. Why are they always poisoned? Every time, I must take them away from the boys because they look suspicious. I eat them all, just to make sure they are okay. I do this for the health of my children.

4. Fall Color and Raking Fun I raked leaves and saw fall color, for the first time in my life, when I was 31 years of age. I made a big pile and jumped in it, and I continue to do so, because I've got YEARS of fall fun frolicking to make up. Not Owen, though. He already knows. To see my son dive into a mound of freshly raked, crunchy leaves, and emerge grinning ear to ear, is like drinking champagne with God.

5. Mums I can think of few things that make me happier than a beautiful, freshly planted chrysanthemum.

To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.--Mohandas K. Gandhi