accessorize

I have officially decided.

Fall is my favorite season. My favorite season.

Favorite.

This is a huge statement for me.

For me, favorites are hard to come by. I feel this is because I am a very un-passionate person. This results in many "no big deal"s, "maybe next time"s, "whatever you want to do"s and "either one is fine with me"s. 

I hid behind the label of "flexible" for a long time. I'm just flexible. Whatever is cool with me because I'm flexible. But there comes a time when you just have to face the facts and mine was that I lack passion. I just don't care that much. I know some actual, real-life passionate people (my husband being one of them) and so I can say with confidence I am not one of those people. But that is okay. I have accepted this, made my peace with it. 

And so for me to say that I have a favorite is remarkable because it is so not something that an un-passionate person like myself would say. I would say I love this or that, but wouldn't dare take the extreme measure and go so far to say that it is my FAVORITE. That's commitment to say something so bold as that. Listing things like top 10 movies of all time is an impossibility for me. What if I change my mind later? How can I make that kind of decision with so many factors like genre, time period, actors, directors, cinematography, or language to consider in correctly measuring the quality and sentimental weight of said movie? 

Rightly so, every favorite determined by myself is a literal celebration which Joey exuberantly participates in. "I figured out what my favorite cookie is!!" I'll exclaim. It is a victory for us both. This is because I am saying that finally I have found something, this one thing worth singling out, standing by, or fighting to defend with every clever argument or convincing piece of evidence I can muster. It is mine. MY favorite.

Fall is mine.

My favorite season.

I would fight for fall.

Let me tell you some reasons why.

The cooler temps are a Godsend after months of humid heat followed by the even warmer Santa Ana winds. Driving through the neighborhoods, the changing pallet of colors prompts smoking chimneys, pumpkins on porch steps, and an all-around cozy feeling. And I actually enjoy how early the darkness comes.

It seems in the summer all I do is try to find ways not to overheat. Cool clothing, fruit salads, popsicles, windows open, sit in front of the fan, try not to move or drive too much. I love summer for it's own reasons, don't get me wrong. But it's not my favorite. Not mine.

The fall brings freedom for me. 

Through this I feel inspiration and creativity swelling inside. I want to paint, I want to knit, I want to make Christmas presents. Cook hearty dinners using exciting recipes, spend more time reading in coffee shops, learn a new language. Something is awakened in my soul by a tree full of rusty colored leaves or the smell of cinnamon while walking through the grocery store. 

Why would these things stir me so? What significance do these things have?

I was watching the movie "Stranger Than Fiction" recently. This movie is great! I recommend it very highly. At the end of the movie it is talking about life and the little things that we do to fill it and ultimately it says, "And we must remember that all these things, the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties which we assume only accessorize our days, are in fact here for a much larger and nobler cause. They are here to save our lives." I love that.

And so with all this fall-inspired ambition, I want to live an accessorized life. In these small things, life happens. It's in 6th grade art projects, a well written moral-of-the-story from an admired acquaintance, beautifully painted sunsets observed through an apartment window, a fall breeze rosy-ing my cheeks. Eggnog lattes given by a friend. Endless weenie dog fights. An after-work story told by my husband. Soft music encouraging thoughts to flow onto paper. 

God is in the details.

However cheesy or over-quoted that statement is, it is infinitely true. How vastly different our lives could be if just one of those "insignificant" details were changed. For good or bad. I want to live in those details, drink them in. Make each one count. Accessorize life.

Paint with all the colors of the wind!

Carried away? Took it too far? Sorry. 

By the way it's Oreo.

My favorite cookie is Oreo.