It's still fall, y'all

The backyard today in Tennessee. I got my vitamin D.

What a lovely day. It was perfect fall weather. Temps in the 60s, sunny, blue sky, leaves changing, slight breeze.

I’m so glad I’m living in Tennessee. It makes me realize all the years I spent hating the weather. Dreading the fall because it wasn’t really fall, just a precursor to endless winter. Spring came late, if it came at all. Often, we’d just jump into summer. I liked summer. That was my shining spot.

But winter.

Winter would start, for all intents and purposes, in October and end maybe by May. One year, we had snow in late September and snow the following May. That’s nine months of winter. NINE months. NINE. That’s, like, six months too much.

Snow can be beautiful. I like to watch it falling in big, fluffy flakes, covering the landscape in fairy-tale white. It’s pretty for Christmas. It’s nice for snowshoeing. Or even making snow sculptures.

But it doesn’t have to last for months, and months, and months. It doesn’t have to hang on, with high temperatures in the negative numbers, ice, wind chills, slippery roads and endless driveways and sidewalks to shovel.

At least I won’t have to do that now, because I’ve moved 800-plus miles south. Soon, I’m moving across an ocean to a slightly warmer climate.

People in Wisconsin say they like the seasons. I get that. They can be beautiful, but in Wisconsin, any season outside of winter is just too short.

I’m sorry it took me more than 30 years to get away. Imagine where I might be if I’d left after college. Surely, someplace warmer, at least, enjoying beautiful days like today.