Autumn in the Sunny South

I live in Florida. Where it's 80-some degrees nearly year-round. But this year I'm finding that I still get that feeling in the pit of my stomach, that tingling in my spine that tells me fall has arrived. I don't really know how to explain it: it's the feeling I would get around this time every year, when my mom took me shopping for new school supplies. It's the feeling I get that reminds me of watching football games and eating chili with my dad. It's red and orange leaves falling from maple trees up north. It's Better Than Ezra's song "This Time of Year." It's Halloween and Thanksgiving creeping up on us again.

I adore autumn. This is the season that I am most homesick for the northern states. In Florida, nothing changes. Kids do go back to school and people put out pumpkins, but it's not the same. Without corn mazes and a nip in the air, without hot chili on Sunday night, without the beautiful falling leaves, all it is is a feeling.

But I'll take what I can get.