in your autumn sweater

It’s seasonal, I’m sure. The air gets cooler; those around me start whinging about it. Those of us walking dogs get our parks back and needn’t share them with fair-weather nature lovers.

People’s social media feeds are filled with photos and posts about leaves and Pumpkin Spice hot beverages and the like. Some who’ve had enough of their revealing summer clothing relish breaking out their sweater collection. I’ve lived places where one didn’t need a sweater collection. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Another change of season – who cares, right? We’ve got other things on our minds. You dig autumn. We get it. Anyway, what’s there left to say?

I’m getting to that.

For some reason, I hear Yo La Tengo singing,

‘…we could slip away
wouldn’t that be better?
me with nothing to say
and you in your autumn sweater…’

I’m one of those people who finds himself oddly restless while easing into fall. There’s that window between summer’s burning and winter’s solitude, and I want to relish it. Not necessarily fleeting, and it has been known to come in waves, autumn flirts with us as late summer still makes momentary appearances.

A cold, cloudless day has people huddling in the few beams of sunlight. We know it’s a diminishing resource, so we cut the fingers out of our gloves, pull on that jacket that still smells of the mustiest part of our closet, and soak up the rays.

It’s going to be a beautiful autumn. I can already tell.