I Miss Autumn

Yes, I know there’s another month of the season left. I’m not saying that I regret the passing of it. I mean that I don’t seem to experience it.

The first reason is that, in case I haven’t mentioned this before, I firmly believe that we have only two seasons in southern New Mexico: Summer and Not-summer. Summer is distinguished by the blazing heat, and Not-summer is the rest of the year. (I can’t exactly claim that it’s cold in what most people call Winter; it’s just not hot here.)

The second reason is football season. (Wabbit season! Duck season!) Because of NMSU’s football games and the Tournament of Bands competition and Homecoming and the high school rivalry game (and, this year, my dad’s death) I miss my weekend exercise walks because I have to be at work (or out of town). As such, there is a period of at least a month that I don’t get to walk. One weekend, I’m out in shorts and a T-shirt, and the next thing I know, I have to put on sweats, a ski hat, and gloves. What happened to the gradual cool-down in between?