What is it about pumpkins, mums, and red leaves that bring us all exuberant amounts of joy every year? The scent of a fall candle transports me to a place that brings out the most content version of myself. And that place is my childhood home. There is no feeling in the world greater than being home during the “-ber” months, when the leaves are vivacious colors of red and orange and the tip of my nose turns pink from taking a walk outside. Soup season, fuzzy socks, bonfires, uggs, fall candles, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, those cheap cookies that kind of taste like crap but there’s a pumpkin on them so you are required to eat them every fall, these are all things that call me right back to home. The home that I have spent 21 years in. This home has changed with every season of my life and yet has always been the same magical place I have always known.
I wonder if my childhood home knows the magic it holds during these months. I wonder if it knows the joy that I feel when I drive into its leaf-covered driveway. I wonder how beautiful it feels when the trees dance around it in their fiery colors and my parent’s proudly-picked pumpkins line the front yard. I wonder if it silently yells at the TV during football season like we do. I wonder if it laughs at our jokes we tell all bundled up by the fire outside in late October. If it can count how many hearty fires my dad has built in its fireplace. I wonder if it knows all the words to A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving like I do. I wonder if it gets hungry smelling heart-warming roast that my mom cooks in the crockpot. I wonder if it is tired of listening to the same Christmas music over and over again every year. I wonder if it gets as excited about putting the candles in the windows as we do. If it makes friends with the short and stout Christmas tree all dressed up in bright white lights. I wonder if it misses when my sister and I believed in Santa Claus as much as we do. I wonder if it smiles when we are all home for the holidays experiencing the undeniable magic.Â
Thank you for being a place that brings me peace. For lifting thousands of pounds of weight from my shoulders the moment I walk in. For being the perfect home to decorate for every holiday. For permanently smelling like a fall candle for three months straight. For bringing my family together every year without fail. For making my parents proud of the home and family that they have built in it. For making us never want to leave it.