Like a Candle in the Wind

Autumn has always been Kyle's favorite time of year. College football, colder weather, leaves turning colors...."What's not to love about it?" he always says.

Our pumpkin carving goes back to college when I bought the cheapest pumpkin and Kyle told me that it was too decrepit to do anything good with. Or our first fall as a married couple, living with our best friend Ryan in Tulsa. Kyle carved an impressive OSU logo into a large pumpkin. It sat on Ryan's front porch halfway through November. We moved to OKC a couple of years later, and Kyle cheerfully performed uncle duties by carving pumpkins with my nieces. And so the pumpkin creations continued in Houston (they molded quickly in the humidity) and Denver (they froze under several feet of snow).

Wherever we were, we invested in mums, gourds, corn stalks, hay bales, scarecrows and many different sized pumpkins. Our displays were not the talk of the neighborhood, but they brought us an unexplainable joy. Maybe we were just nesting, but the task of decorating and carving were rewarding.

So, here we are in Azerbaijan, where autumn is just a passing of time, nothing notable about it. No decorations in school windows, no Halloween or trick-or-treating, no cutesy Target fall dinnerware sets and definitely no pumpkins.

To make up for the lack of enthusiasm in Baku, I retrieved our fall decorations from our "garage" and set about making our apartment as festive as possible. It helped to lighten our spirits, and then I took it one step too far. I lit an autumn scented candle that brought back a flood of olfactory spawned memories, "How can one Pumpkin Carnival scented Wal-mart candle make me feel so many emotions?" But, it was a bell that could not be unrung, so we spent the rest of the day searching online for "favorite fall recipes/comfort foods." With our limited ingredient availability, Kyle settled on a variation of beef stroganoff. It wasn't exactly ribs on the grill or a simmering stew, but it satisfied our need to feel fall-y.

On a day-to-day basis, we are just fine in Baku, just living as normal of life as possible. I'm positive that my autumn themed home sickness is strong simply because there is absolutely no outlet for it here. Maybe I only miss it because when you are a stranger in a strange land, you long for something familiar. Whatever the case, I'm just thankful that we're coming home for Christmas. I can't wait to enjoy pieces of Americana Christmastime. I will appreciate it now more than ever!