By Abe Villarreal
Every time we enter the month of August I start to think about fall, and about holidays, and about food. The sunshine of summer is always welcome when it first arrives. Now, I'm ready for it to take its own holiday. This summer has been hot.
Fall is always memorable in the Southwest. We don't get the changing of the leaves or dramatic fluctuations in weather. Our streets and front porches don't look like what you see in movies. That's okay. We live here for a reason. We live here because it is like something you don't see in the movies.
During the fall season, I throw caution to the wind. Everything that I'm supposed to do right during the year is gone. This is a time of indulgences. A time of being a kid again. A time of living your life the way you remember living it before you started carrying the worries of the world.
When I was a kid, fall season was going to tata and nana's house right after school because the days were short, the evenings were dark, and mom and dad were still at work. Fall was eating snacks and sugary drinks that nana gave you because mom wasn't watching. Fall was being free from rules.
When you are an adult and a little more worn out, a little slower, and a lot busier, the fall season is about thinking about the end of the year. About reflecting on what you still have to get done. About realizing that a new year is ahead and you can plan for the future.
You don't think about any of this when you're a kid. You think about the hot chocolate you're about to drink while your grandparents are having their cafecito and pan dulce. You think about the time you have to spend indoors with your cousins because the adults said it's too cold outside. Where we live, it's never too cold outside.
Back then, I thought about family visits, about sleepovers, about cool breezes, about early mornings. Today, I think about the warmness of those around me. About gratefulness and why I have it in abundance.
In our maturity and wisdom, we look back at why something like the changing of a season was special to us. Why it meant something to us. We may not have realized it, but it meant time was moving forward. It meant that we would experience again everything that gave us smiles during the same time last year. It meant that everything was temporary. That seasons come and go and so do our experiences.
Now, it's the memories that come and go. When they do come, they take us back to a time that helps us bring meaning to today. I hope the fall season is a memorable one for all of you. It's only mid-August, but fall will be here soon and we'll be remembering all the reasons that make it special.
The open skies. The smell of wet dirt. The bare trees. The cooling mornings. A time to enjoy the outdoors. Fall in the Southwest is worth experiencing. Just like it was when we were kids.
Abe Villarreal writes about the traditions, people, and culture of America. He can be reached at
