Fall

I love Fall. I love the way the air smells. I love that it's 75 degrees in the day... and almost cold at night. One of the most beautiful neighborhood drives is the one down University near Wash Park... the huge trees as they change color and hover over the street. Pretty. I love sweaters and jeans. I love love love Halloween. Erin was talking about her Halloween plans and it made me start to get excited for this time of year. Halloween was always a big deal around my house when we were growing up. My mom is very crafty and she would always sew us kids a new costume... whatever we wanted. The night of Halloween she would always make chili, corn bread and hot chocolate. Mom would answer the door and give out candy to Trick or Treaters...and my dad would take us out Trick or Treating. One year when I was about 8, I wanted to go Trick or Treating with my friends alone just around our small neighborhood. Back then, we knew every family in every house. In fact I can still drive the neighborhood and point to the house and say the family name. Anyway, I went out with my friends, and my dad, who was 31 at the time, followed close behind, but never let me see him. A group of high school bullies from another neighborhood came over and pushed me down and took my candy. I ran home crying. My dad saw it happen and "went and taught those boys a lesson about picking on little girls, especially HIS little girl" (awwwwhhhh) as he told me at a later date many years later. He came back home and handed me my candy in silence, as I sat on my mom's lap and cried. He had a few bumps and scraps on him (there were a lot of boys)....but he looked like my Knight In Shining Armor.