I Take it All Back

After writing a scathing review of the weather that made up the week leading up to Thanksgiving break and the utter lack of autumn that it brought, I now realize it’s time for me to shut up and learn to be patient. I landed back in Texas on November 26th (just in time for the TCU vs. Iowa State game) only to find… fall! Everything I had been worried to miss while living my life in Texas wasn’t gone- it was just late. 

I can feel the seasons shifting. And while I love everything about this season, I especially love the colors that autumn brings. The leaves are finally changing and falling, which somehow gives me a stronger desire to be outside, breathe in the crisp air, and soak up all the richness the outdoors has to offer us. It always offered richness, but autumn seems to do it in a whole new way. It feels new. Which, in my opinion, is the whole point of fall. It’s the beginning stages of a new start. 

Autumn casts a golden glow in the morning and a cool and sentimental feeling in the afternoon. I try to spend a few mornings out of the week on my balcony, reading, drinking coffee, or simply taking it all in. I enjoy examining the large tree in my yard from my perch. 

How does it look different from day to day? Week to week? I was so worried it would go from green to ground all too quickly- or worse, that the whole process would occur while I was home for Thanksgiving. In addition to spending my mornings watching the trees, some of my most favorite afternoons since arriving back in Texas have been walking among them. While it isn’t the wildest experience (and Thorough would argue that this isn’t experiencing nature to its fullest potential), I like to find the local neighborhoods with the best trees and take my walks there. These oak trees not too far away from TCU were beautiful. 

I decided to take it upon myself to do some research on how autumn is doing these days. Instead of complaining about it (like in my last blog post), I’d like to inform myself. What I found was that all over the country, autumn is becoming more and more delayed. On this, National Geographic says, “What’s more, climate-related delays in leaf coloration are disrupting annual cycles of growth and rest that trees undergo. What that means for forests—how well trees grow, where they can live, and whether they can keep storing carbon at the same rate—is still unclear”. That means my trees weren’t refusing to change, they were just waiting for the timing to be right for them- but at the cost of precious time spent (while it is in short supply). 

It is a scary thought that the trees may not have the time or ability to be what they are meant to be or do what they are meant to do. All living things need time and rest, and I hope we can start making small changes to start turning the tides and giving the trees the time they need.