Can you feel it?

The sun's rays are changing, gone from white-hot to sidelong golden. When you're in the car (with the AC on, this IS still Atlanta), you can SEE autumn. It's coming, it's coming!

Autumn is my very favorite time of year, and we really get cheated out of it here. There's nothing like fall in Ohio. It's cool, and the air smells like burning laves and cinnamon. You are positively giddy over the thought of crisp apples, their juice dripping down your chin. You love spending Friday nights at high school football games, where it's twilight by kickoff and you need a blanket for your lap by halftime. You go pick pumpkins at the beginning of October because they'll last. Days are in the 70s, then the 60s, and finally the 50s, and not only do you get to buy sweaters, but also jackets. There are few things as beautiful as the orange-gold carpet of leaves that crunch beneath your feet, except those same leaves en masse where your kids are jumping and jubilant.

That is autumn. This is a poor imitation that I will accept because, well, I must. By the time I get to Ohio, autumn will be over and it will be close to Christmas. I miss those days, that light, those smells. Everything felt so special.

I have to say, we have an amazing life here. A nice house, good jobs, good friends and family and church. I can't complain much. But I still miss it. So when you think of it, stomp through some leaves for me. Go see a marching band. Eat a caramel apple. Celebrate autumn, would you?