Seasons

I am a Midwest boy. I always will be. I never want to leave. God may call me away to a warmer climate… but, I’ll be honest… I wouldn’t be happy about it. When I retire, I'd like to retire somewhere in the midwest. I have grown up with four distinct seasons each year and love each of them for different reasons. My favorite month of the year: October.

There is no better month than October, in my mind, because of the colors of the trees and the temperature. It’s kind of a tradition of mine, during my day off, to open all the windows in my house and just breathe in the cooler air and take in the beauty of the season. I know that not everybody gets into the yellows, oranges, and reds of autumn… but I absolutely marvel at it. In fact, I’ve lived here in St. Peters long enough to know where the most stunning trees are in my neighborhood. I specifically drive by these trees to just look at them.

There is one tree in particular that is half bright red and half bright orange right now. When the sun hits this tree just right, it looks like the tree is on fire. To this sentimental, Midwestern boy… the view is breath-taking.

I also love the decorations… in October we see pumpkins, cobwebs, ghosts, monsters, strobe lights, graveyards, etc. Halloween has never bothered me as a Christian. For me, it’s a chance to live through my daughter’s imagination. To remember what it was like to put on a Darth Vader costume and go door to door begging for candy. To recall the horror of walking through a chainsaw and coffin infested haunted house. To revisit all the ghost stories and tales that were passed down to me. This Saturday, we are hoping to take Emily to a pumpkin patch… where we will pick out her first pumpkin and later that evening… we will attempt to carve it.

My second favorite month of the year: December. I love Christmas time. I love getting out the tree with Melissa and Emily and decking out our house for Christmas. I love the music. I love the anticipation of spending time with family, which is hugely important to both Melissa and I. (Since I only get two Sundays off a year… and Melissa works a normal work week, we can’t just take off to visit family any old time… but we usually always take a week off around Christmas time.) I love it when the weather patterns work out so that we actually have a ‘White Christmas.’ Christmas lights just look so much cooler when their colors can gleam off the snow at night.

I love the first snowfall. I love how it sticks to the trees. I love how it crunches under my feet. I love how it packs together for my first snowball victim (usually Melissa). I love how the city just lights up more because the snow reflects the light into an orange kind of glow.

I am thankful for the seasons. There is always something to look forward to. Around August, I start getting tired of the heat… and I look forward to fall (and football). Around November, I start getting excited for the holidays. Around February, I start getting tired of the cold and start looking forward to the warmth of spring and the start of baseball. By April, I am ready for summer to kick in full force… and knowing that my wife gets to be at home and that I get to spend more time with her and Emily. I love the seasons… and the joys and emotions that each one brings to my life.

I’d write more… but there are a few trees I’d like to go look at…