As I grasp the cold black iron door handle that opens to my front porch, I deeply breathe in the air. It feels crisp. It feels chilling as the breeze hits my skin, and I know the most perfect weather has arrived. When the season changes, anyone can see me sitting outside always smiling while I look around at the colorful red and yellow leaves.

Fall is the perfect transition from scorching heat to the freezing cold; fall is a flawless mix of both. The versatile weather allows for any and all types of clothing: leggings, shorts, jeans, sweatshirts, jackets, crop tops, etc. 

This breezy, gorgeous weather causes the leaves to fade from rich green to that shade of crimson red and break away from the branches — which then perfectly decorate the quad of STA. 

Not only does the weather perfectly symbolize my love for fall, but Halloween pushes my excitement to another level. Halloween is the best holiday, hands down. It is that special day in the year where people can live in their most creative imaginative characters. It is a real life fantasy. 

For me, Halloween means spending countless weekends decorating my whole front yard with spooky decorations. It is an unspoken tradition in my family because of my mom. My mom has always been in love with the Halloween holiday; all of the decorations and the season of fall mixed together in one is the perfect blend. While there is no set theme for our yard decor, there is a combination between witches and zombies, with all things in between. 

Since this day is pretty big in my family, if you walk into my basement or garage it is mostly filled with the storage of decorations. Starting in the beginning of October, we haul the same reused decorations up and out of my house and sprawl them across the yard. This is a multi-day process and a seemingly big ordeal.

First we string up the many lights and ghosts hanging from the trees, and finally end with the big blow-up haunted house. Ah, what a time. 

Moving forward from this blissful month of October, the month of November is filled with thankfulness, family and my birthday. I find myself very lucky to not only be born during the best season but so close to Thanksgiving. 

During the fall season, I also am brought back to my favorite memory and best birthday present. When I was in fourth grade I was obsessed with Selena Gomez, and lucky for me she was going on tour right after my birthday.

To my genuine surprise, I received concert tickets for my birthday and it was one of the best nights ever — even my dad was singing during the concert. I still have pieces of confetti that shot up through the cannons at the very end. 

Fall is a time of change and togetherness; a close to the fun times of summer, leading to the community’s reconnection before school. People tend to overlook the end of the fall season that encourages people to rejoin with others.

Unfortunately, fall has to come to an end with the start of December. The winter brings isolation and disconnection, as nature begins to wilt with the cold air driving people inside.  With only a couple short months of the most beautiful weather and the best fall activities to do, there is one lesson to learn: never take fall for granted.