Autumn

I really like the Fall. Crisp days. Pretty leaves. Football. Pumpkin spice. What's not to like?

And yet, it's hard for me to not feel a sort of ominous dread when fall rolls around. I know that winter is just around the corner. Being from the Carolinas, Chicago winters are foreign to me. Still, it isn't even the winters here that get me. It's the winters north of here. I have this perception of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and (even worse) Canada as being a sort of tundra that immediately frosts over and dooms all visitors as soon as November rolls around. Every time we get close to winter I feel like the family in The Shining, as if once the snow starts the phone lines go down and no one can hear us scream. On a certain level, I view news of approaching Arctic fronts as a tale of impending invasion, and my migratory instinct kicks in at full speed.

It's never the cold or the ice or the snow that gets me, though. It's the darkness. Between being pretty far north and being within an hour of the Central/Eastern timeline, these dark-by-five days are a killer. In the thick of it, we're talking about 9 or 10 hours of daylight (and if you think a guy who works from home won't sleep through at least 2 of them, think again).

Ah well. I'll just try to travel south when I can, take some Vitamin D, and bundle up. After all, winter here only lasts 9 months or so.