Fall Back... to School

Ahhh, the fall. Leaves turn beautiful shades of color you only see for a short time each year. The air is nice and cool, finally rid of summer's oppressive humidity. Apples and pumpkins in season give you an excuse to make apple- and pumpkin-flavored everything... Oh, is that just me?

Well anyway, for so many people, the fall also means the start of the new school year. Probably more so than any other time of year, the fall makes me miss being in school. Buying text books and school supplies was the highlight of my end-of-summer days. By the time October rolled around, I was already well in the swing of things: having intense conversations with classmates, getting to know professors and delving deeper into their academic interests, and starting to think about what classes to take in the spring.

You can certainly say that I enjoyed being a student. I suppose that's why for so long I wanted to be a professor, which to me was basically the equivalent of getting paid to be a student. My career path has now veered off a bit from that, though I haven't completely written it off. Yet every fall, without fail, I start wondering again if and when I'll ever go back to school.

For the past few days, I've thought about taking some classes to fill this void I keep having. I won't go so far as to take graduate-level courses with no goal in mind, but I'm thinking that taking a writing class of some sort might be a good start. Since I've wanted to focus on my writing anyway, I think this might be a good way to fulfill both desires. Just a thought for now, but I'll let you know if it goes anywhere.

Do any of you get the same nostalgia about your school days in the fall?