Something special happens when September arrives. My body seems to fall into itself, to breathe as though coming home after long, hot few months away. September is my birth month and, like trees, I relax my branches and prepare to shed. While I might miss the warm sun and endless days of summer, they don’t hold a candle to the crisp air that sways through my windows in the early morning, or the darkness that cloaks the pavement after dinner.
For pretty much every year of my life, September has also meant a return to school. As a teacher, I deal with the same nervous excitement and mild regret when September approaches as students do. I worry that I didn’t make the most of my summer, question whether I’m any good at my job, try to anticipate struggles before they occur as I plan a semester’s worth of work. As soon as I graduated college, I started full time at a private high school, and the importance and responsibility of my job meant difficulty breathing at times, headaches that hit me quickly as I walked up the path to my apartment at the end of a long day. Work got easier as the years progressed, though there was never less of it. I gained confidence in my teaching, but I also loaded four semesters’ worth of graduate credits on top of it. I was immersed in literature and writing, things I love, but September never approached without nightmares of me screaming at a classroom full of noisy kids, only to recognize there was no sound coming from my voice.
Having my kids shook things up as far as my career was concerned. For the past five years, I have been in and out of part-time and full-time teaching jobs, like a tree swaying in the wind, trying to find its sense of place and balance. Now, when September arrives, I get a new schedule, a much-needed paycheck, and a whole new crew of students. For my kids, it brings a new preschool teacher and a classroom full of tiny kids who know more about commercial toys than the engineers who make them.
Very few things seem to have remained static as I dig into my 32nd September on the planet. Raising children forces me to grow, change, and adapt along with them. My marriage, while solid, is always evolving, never in the same stage it was four months ago. My job changes, too, as I travel to new locations and teach different material each semester. And I am waking up to my own inner journey, digging through the layers of myself that I let remain hidden in the past two decades. This is the life I’ve chosen, one of constant adjustment (not easy for this perfectionistic Virgo).
The only constant, it seems, is the passage of time, and the memories that flood when the seasons change, when the scent of ripe apples and leaves begin to fill the air.
What is your favorite month?
Image: “September Rain” by deborahsilverbees via Flickr using a creative commons license.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I, too, love fall! October and November are my favorite b/c of the radical change in color in the Midwest. I was married in the fall and used many vibrant, warm colors. So, I guess color is important to me!
I love the change in weather as my senses re-perk from the heat of the summer. A crisp, cool morning and the smell of wet leaves makes me squeal with glee!
And let’s not forget a complete change of wardrobe-cute boots, warm sweaters, fun scarves…
Food? Caramel apples, warm hearty soups, the constant smell of cinnamon and nutmeg in my home.
Can you tell I love fall? This was a great post to wake up to this morning!
I can’t agree enough that fall clothes are the best kind of clothes. I love sweaters, blazers and scarves. Though summer is growing on me, mostly because as I get older, I realize how important it is for me to feel the warm sun. (Too many years of pale white legs and a Vitamin D deficiency, I suppose.) And while i like the look of boots, I’m becoming quite partial to slinky flip-flops and pedicures.
I have to say, I really quite like the end of July, around the time terms ends ….. although I love the autumn for the colours, nothing quite beats saying goodbye to the classes and looking forward to six weeks off! Alas, soon over …
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Not September, maybe October – but definitely Fall as a season. Living in California makes for a later entry and perhaps that’s why it’s pushed out a bit further. I can always count on a cold within the first 2-3 weeks of the kids being back in school, the same as it was for me as a student.
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So with you on this one, but for me it’s October. My birth month. I love the colors, the smells and the slight melancholy of heading into winter. Simpatico, girl.
September and October beat every other month of the year, hands down. There is almost nothing I don’t like about them. I am sorry to see summer end this year as it’s been fabulous, but can’t deny that I am looking forward to the routines of Autumn once again.
I absolutely adore fall. September is when my youngest was born so it holds a special place in my heart. I’m a teacher too so it always means lots of craziness and transition…but good.
I also love October, like many of you, because the weather does get cooler and the leaves start to turn. But September carries the first hint of fall. It’s kind of like the Friday night before a weekend. Somehow, Friday is better purely for the anticipation of the coming weekend.
I love October because that is when it starts to cool down in the desert. I like the idea of football, hot chocolate, and the smell of holidays in the air. I’ve always loved fall and winter.
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I like summer because,as a teacher, I have long holidays. But due to the unbearable hot weather I end up tired of it.
My favourite season is spring: the flowers blossom, the cold days disappear and life is at its biggest expression!!
Autumn makes me feel a bit sad ,though.
Lovely post.
Happy early Birthday! I love September, even though a chill in the air and the scent of apples are just whispers where we live (well, where we usually live … it’s already blissfully cool in Romania). But somehow September has always felt like the start of the new year to me. Maybe it was the careful selection of color-coordinated spiral notebooks and folders for each subject or the looooooong hours of work on the marching band field as we geared up for a new season. Either way, ironically, the beginning of fall, when the leaves begin to die, has always felt like a rebirth to me.
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