Falling forward.

Oh, Fall. Last hurrah of summer, transforming green into bright, earthy swatches of color..frost on the ground, and an aire of anticipation in the air. Autumn is my favorite season, and although I'm resigned to not being a cold weather person, there's a certain comfort and grounding I take in the briskness. To me, the turning is not really a mourning of last days of warm weather - the end of barbecues, baseball, and...um, butterflies, I guess - but a gradual easing of us into another state of familiarity and comfort, warmth and closeness.

(Secretly, I love this time of year mostly because it's like a virtual hourglass of leaves, marking time to the end of arduous lawn mowing for the next few months.)

But there's more. A good friend of mine recently ruminated on reasons to love Fall. I submit my own.


10. All the good movies open in Fall. Not your typical Summer popcorn fare trumpeted with hyped release dates, obscenely paid stars and convoluted/safe storylines; I'm talking the serious Oscar contenders, that you may have to seek out that little arthouse theatre downtown to find - stories with historical sweeps of grandeur, or suburban boredom and dissatisfaction. Ones which you try to describe to your friends afterward that elicit quizzical looks and dismissive "never heard of it" responses. You know, that one film with the ending not always neatly tied up, incessantly resonating in your head on the drive home. Sneak out early on a Friday afternoon, the day one opens, and catch the last matinee show. On the way out after, give a knowing nod to the people queued up for that latest "Saw XXV" or whatever, and get a head start on awards season.

9. Football games. All kinds. even if you don't go to one, it's comfortingly familiar to see high school kids with cars (and faces) painted in hopeful victory, makeshift spririt flags hanging from windows and planted in yards. The halo glow of high school stadium lights. Marching band practices. Sundays on the couch watching a late game, with the cat sleeping on your stomach (and barely opening an eye as you throw the remote down in disgust when your team offers up a poor play).

8. Dark in, Dark out. So, Daylight Savings may have shifted, and we gain that extra hour and fall back just a little later into November now. But it's still the same Fall. Don't just go from garage to car to parking garage at work to home...Take that rare personal moment when you can walk outside into the cool darkness of the morning, inhale slow and deep, and reflect as you exhale and watch your breath disappear up over your head...attaching itself to a world vibrant and moving elsewhere, but still and calm in your driveway. And do it again as you pull into the garage at the close of the day.

7. Sleeping with windows open makes both sides of the pillow cooler. Enough said.

6. Sweatshirts and shorts together. I could wear shorts all year-round like second skin, except that enhances a dork factor in the rest of me that I have to contend with. But it's a compromised collision of mild acceptance of cooler weather, along with a holding onto summer's last hurrah, that makes this ensemble wholly necessary and acceptable. Especially here in Chicago, where Summer doesn't start until July 4th weekend, and ends with the first sighting of a Cubs fan's tears (mine included). And Spring begins again around Flag Day.

5. Smell of campfires and burning leaves. This ranks as one of my all time favorite scents. Reminds me of being a kid and sitting around fire pits, challenging each other to "What will burn the fastest?" contests. Yeah, it's accelerating global warming. But isn't the black smoke from Styrofoam cool?!?

4. Halloween parties. Couples costumes are hard - you can either go the obvious route of the latest celebrity or political scandal of that week...or be more esoteric and obscure, like each wearing a human IM log you both regularly update with Sharpies as the party progresses. ("Jen says: 'OMG. Glad we only see these neighbors once a year' ", "Nick says: 'LOL. Hope they get into the same fight again over the 'key party' suggestion he offers up every year.' "). Either way, it's a brutal fight to bragging rights for best costume prize of a ceramic pumkin mug.

3. Brunch. Fall just seems more acceptable to be decadent in your eating habits. And heavier buffet-style gorging just feels right. To a non meat-eater like myself, even sausage smells good and tempting in the thick fall air. There's a reassuring communal experience shared with strangers at an omelet station, when you're piling on six kinds of cheeses. Encouraged by the guy in a chef hat. "Feta AND cheddar sauce? Eh...why not."

2. Hot/ warm spiced wine. Mugs of cider are great for autumn wrapping of cold hands, but a friend got me hooked on a red, spiced wine served up hot...awesome for some serious fall imbibing. You can get it in a white, too, but the red just seems more seasonal...oak-y and party-like. And for you more sophisticate types, you can walk around looking detached with your wine glass in hand but still drink yourself blind like us simple folk.

1. Re-setting the DVR for new shows and getting ready for some serious couch time. And the intricate complications of emotional discourse with your spouse as to whether you'll bother getting into a new show: because it'll probably be cancelled by November sweeps anyway/ but what if it's a hit and I can't discuss with my friends at work/ yes but we watch too many shows anyway and I don't have time to get into another show/ It looks good though/ I thought you were going to read more/ but if I get suckered in and have to wait for the DVD it won't come out until the beginning of next season then I'll be two seasons behind/ can't we eliminate a reality show/ no because we've stuck with it from the beginning and besides you like Kim Kardashian/ fine/ watch it yourself, I don't care, I never stopped you, I'll just go in another room/ now I feel guilty/ you don't seem to want to spend time with me anymore anyway/ I never said that/ it's apparent we're growing further apart/ just because you know I could care less about "Dr Phil" yet you insist on recording it every day and taking up valuable space?/ I record it for you, hoping you'll take a cue and work on your emotional distancing and constant denial of my affirmations! (sniff)....