Thankful Sunday--October 26, 2014

I am thankful for the smell of autumn.

Black walnuts

Autumn is a season of change and a season for the senses. During autumn, you see the world change from shades of green to shades of yellows, oranges, and reds. You watch leaves as they drift down from the trees and feel their crunch beneath your feet. You feel both the warm sun and the cold breezes.  However, the part of autumn that fills my senses the most is the smell. You know that smell. The earthy, leafy smell. I love it.

That sounds kind of strange, doesn't it? At least that's how it seemed to me today on my walk as I was thinking about what to post for Thankful Sunday. However, as I thought further, I realized that the smell I liked best in autumn is the smell of a walnut tree when it is dropping its leaves and nuts. I hadn't realized that when I walk around the walnut trees in our yard, I always take a big whiff. And I think that whiff subconsciously takes me back to my childhood. We had a large walnut tree in our backyard when I was growing up. It was a part of much of my play including a tree swing that could go high enough that I felt like I was flying--especially when my father pushed me. Also, in the fall as the nuts were falling, our town had a festival celebrating walnuts. It was the biggest event of the year--so big that we even got off a day from school for it. So maybe the tree in my backyard when I was growing up is the reason that I like the smell of walnut trees now and the smell of autumn in general. I've heard that the sense of smell can sometimes evoke stronger emotions that any other sense. Maybe that's true in this case.

So there you go. That's what I thought about on my walk this afternoon while I was sniffing the air. Maybe I should have left it at, "I am thankful for smell of autumn." But you know how it is. Sometimes it's hard to turn your brain off.