The weather today has been stormy... I don't mind. The last few times it has rained, I have felt nothing but anticipation because in time the rain will wash away the heat and bring with it gradually cooler weather and colorful leaves, and my favorite season: Autumn.

Just as a formal introduction, the full name I have claimed for myself is Merewyn Autumn Rayne. This is my time of year.

I have always felt especially close to the fall. Even as a kid it was my favorite time of the year - forget Christmas and Easter! (I was raised Catholic). I loved the Fall. It had a greater sense of new beginnings for me, it was a time of learning, to gather closer together, to wind down, to grow up just a little more after a childish and wild summer. It's a time of picking apples and finding pumpkins, of magic and make believe.

Then in my 16th autumn, I fell in love... and since then, have remained in love with my dearest. We shared our first kiss in a cornfield, and every year for 8 years since, we have returned to that same Farm to pick apples, find pumpkins, buy pies, play on the swings (still!) and enjoy swift happy kisses. This October will see our 9th return.

While nature may be cooling gradually to a brisk temperature, I cannot help but feel warmer, more happy, more alive, attentive and connected. Feelings of everything wonderful overflow and I can never help but feel beautiful inside and out during the fall.

People always reserve blossoming til the Springtime... perhaps I'm a late bloomer, but I always blossom in Autumn.