Autumn is here...

You know how I can tell? I mean, besides the fact that it's September...

I walk outside in the morning on the way to work, and that brisk chill hits me. No, it's not what one would consider "cold," I guess. But it's a little nippy. Then I walk out again at lunch, and it's boiling hot. I go home in the evening, and it's chilly again.

But the mornings especially get me. I feel that chill in the air and all of a sudden, I'm 15 again... Standing at the goddamn bus stop, waiting to go to school. I'm freezing my nips off. "Why not dress more warmly?" you ask? Well, because I went to private school. Yeah, that's right. I'm a Catholic school girl - a less slutty version of what girls dress up as on Halloween, but way cooler than Mary Katherine Gallagher (superstar!). By high school, when I was deemed old enough to take the bus, I was on my own getting to school. I stood out there wearing that Godforsaken skirt... and it was a kilt (i.e. it was pleated and wrapped around as opposed to being something you step into), which was especially precarious on windy days. I had one of two options: a.) wear those hideous "flesh" colored tights to keep myself warm or 2.) wear sweatpants under my skirt, which was the option most often exercised by me. Only problem with that one was if I was late to school... because then I'd have to scramble to get the damned things off and into my locker before my first class started. What can I say? I'm clumsy.

I miss high school, but I do NOT miss the bus. I do NOT miss lugging my heavy backpack while TAKING the bus. I do not miss the hoots and hollers from random men and day laborers while WAITING FOR the bus. I do not miss freezing my ass off because of some stupid skirt. I thank God for my drivers' license and the right to wear pants!!!