Lacey Middlestead is a Montana native and freelance writer currently living in Helena, Mont. She loves meeting new people and helping share their stories. When she’s not busy writing articles for newspapers like the Independent Record and Helena Vigilante, she can usually be found indulging in her second greatest passion–playing in the Montana wilderness. She loves skiing and snowmobiling in the winter and four wheeling, hiking, boating, and riding dirt bikes in the summer.

The other night I felt restless and soon found myself driving out of town---windows down, music cranked and belting out Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer.” The sky was stunningly clear with heaven’s light bulbs strung about. It was one of those nights Montanans count themselves blessed for living in the Big Sky state. I found myself thinking about Fall and the flurry of color it always arrives in. There’s no doubt it’s a beautiful time of year and that alone makes it one of my favorite season. But as I felt the gentle fall air twirl through my hair, I realized I love Fall for a whole strew of other reasons I never realized.

1. Fall arrives in a slow but glorious style…like the love you think you’ll never find but that sneaks up and transforms your whole existence before you even have a chance to catch your breath.

2. Strung haphazardly between the gentlest and harshest seasons, Fall compels you to slow down finally and just appreciate all the things you too often take for granted.

3. Fall reminds us that the only predictable thing in life is that it is ever-changing. Whether in good times or bad, take comfort in knowing this day you’re living right now will never be the same as the one before it or the one after.

4. Patience….my goodness how much Fall has taught me about patience. The leaves adorning nature’s fragile limbs become their most beautiful not when they first bud in the spring, but just before they witness their last sunset and drift to the ground in an accepted passing away. For me, Fall’s leaves reminds me that sometimes the shiniest moments in our life come seemingly at the end of things. Remember, the best may very well be ahead of us.

5. Fall leaves us ambitious and wanting more. In summer it’s so easy to get caught up in the nice weather and endless days. When Fall descends we know winter is approaching and we scramble to get in our final hikes in the mountains and grill the last pounds of hamburger over the barbeque on the deck. In between all the doing, we also start fantasizing about the spring and summer of next year and all of the new and fantastical journeys we will find ourselves on.

6. Fall is the only season of the year that I can actually feel. There’s always that one day when I step outside in the morning and feel the seasons click and the calendar page turn.

7. The beauty of the colors and dancing leaves is overt and demanding….you literally can’t help but pause to appreciate it.

8. So many intoxicating sounds accompany Fall. There’s crunchy leaves, corn stalks rustling with the breeze, the whack and thud of wood being chopped, the clap of guns being fired by hopeful hunters and that soft morning silence of a season that is simply at peace with things.

9. Pumpkin. That most unique and tantalizing of flavors that is so special that it is reserved for only a few months out of the year. I cherish every latte, slice of pie and whipped frosting tinted with its warm flavors and spices.

10. Fall is the most grateful of seasons. In America, we have an entire national holiday designated just for thankfulness. But I think we are all grateful during fall for the adventurous summer we are wrapping up and for the bounty of blessing we hope life will bestow on us in the new year.

Fall, it would seem, is my very favorite season after all.