One of the things my mother misses most since her move to Florida a number of years ago is a real, authentic autumn. That East Cobb fall feeling, I always called it, at least in my own mind.
A native of Wisconsin, she grew to relish the four full, distinct seasons we seem to have in Georgia. While coming here was initially culture shock for her—this was the South of the early 1960s, as air conditioning, school integration and multiple-lane roads were still new—she grew to regard the place as home.
It’s still home for me, the only member of the family who hasn’t relocated to the Florida panhandle or Alabama Gulf Coast (perhaps I should take a hint?). Like mother, I really do revere the autumns around here, and drives through neighborhoods in East Cobb like where we once lived, that still retain the trees and feel of a community as it was coming to be what we know it today.
When I traversed down our old residential street the other day, it looked very different than how it always did in late October. The lush green colors gave off the feel of mid-summer, instead of the yellow, orange and brown of autumn.
In fact, if you go most anywhere in the community, it doesn’t feel like fall at all. Even East Cobb Park, with its majestic backdrop of high trees framing a singular shade of green, dark green, and hardly any leaves falling anywhere.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not complaining about 70-degree temperatures, for when they go away, they will disappear fast, with a cold winter likely setting in.
For the moment, however, it’s just a different feeling, a week before Halloween, without the natural accompaniment to go with the pumpkin patches and other signs of the coming holiday seasons.
They will be here soon enough, with November just around the corner. While these Indian Summer days are a nice reward for enduring the heat of June, July and August, I’m eager for the fall to start feeling like it, and the beautiful sights of the season that for me is the most special of all.
Whatever you’re doing this week, make it a great one! Thanks so much for reading East Cobb News! 
