The most wonderful time of the year

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

I’m not talking about Christmas, although I like Christmas. I’m talking about now. Fall. When the weather cools and it’s time to retrieve heavier clothing, my heart grows fond of the opportunity to sip hot chocolate and, this year especially, seek shelter under the ribs of my umbrella.

Rob Goates

Thomas Hood, the English poet, said “I saw old Autumn in the misty morn stand shadowless like silence, listening to silence.” How often is that noticed? Our homes are left, in the early morning, and one pauses to feel the crisp, cool silence present in “old Autumn.” The animals are gone; wintertime hides herself and waits to descent upon the unsuspecting Utah State students and faculty.

Many literary minds pay homage to this time of year. Albert Camus, a French philosopher, stated that “autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” Those who have had the opportunity to drive or hike through any canyon in Cache Valley are well aware of the eruption of color that bursts from every tree and shrubbery from the surrounding hills. To smell the earthy, damp scent rush with the wind. To feel the crunch of dried leaves underfoot.

Utah State athletics have the feel of autumn throughout the whole year. Most of those in attendance don’t realize the significance of the seats, believing the “nauseous” colors are indicative of the era in which the arena was built. However, when the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum designer worked on the building before its dedication on December 1, 1970, he decided to immortalize the feeling we experience now at every event by creating those same colors found in Sardine Canyon.

There is a harmony in autumn not seen nor heard through the summer, then vanished in winter, when nature herself orchestrates the beginning of a long, emotionless rest. During that time, it is, in my opinion, the most wonderful time of the year.

- Rob Goates