October 6, 2023 - Elizabeth Lerman’s “When the wind blows this way”

I feel my loneliest in fall and still, it is my favorite season. My stomach drops because the weather is changing and, usually, so is everything else, and when the wind blows this way I want to be held by someone who hasn’t hurt me yet but the thought of another new thing makes me hide and say maybe some other time because tonight, the October air pulls me close and I use the dog as a reason to keep walking, wanting to be outside with some purpose, and she is ready to go in before I am but I turn again, trick her into a few more blocks, so that by the time we get home I am happy and aching for it.