Too Soon Gone

Growing up all your life in California, people are always telling you how great the weather is all year round. But they also never fail to mention the downside to paradise, which is that you never experience a real "Fall".

If I had a dime for everytime someone told me how beautiful the Fall is in New England, I would be a rich man (ok, maybe just fifty bucks richer, but that's a lot for a this poor student!).

So, naturally it follows that I was really excited to experience my first, offical "Fall" in New England, no less.

And indeed it is more beautiful than words can express and the little of it that I experienced (walking 15 minutes to class each day) was just too little to enjoy it fully. But there were some moments when the wind suddenly picked up and thousands of bold red and yellow leaves would flutter down from the copse of trees like so much glittering confetti that you felt the most stomach churning nostalgia for the perfect New England childhood you never had.

This year's Fall was altogether too painful to endure. I hated glancing up from my blackletter books to see the glory of Autumn unfolding beyond my sterile windowed walls. Next year I hope I have more time to enjoy it.

It is rumored that the snow will start falling next week. Winter is coming. Already the trees are nearly bare and the wind has a sharper chill. The blue skies turn now to grey and the technicolor leaves rot on the ground. The grass has all but died.

As the earth prepares for the dead of winter, I can't help but wonder if I will one day wake up to find that I am too soon old and too late wise.