Fall Memories

When I think about fall I think about bright colors, cooler weather and the smell. In Arizona you look forward to this time with a glimmering hope that the 100 degree days are over. I get excited to think that it will start to cool off and the idea of buying things such as pumpkins, flowers, and apples. I get excited to buy fall decor and to decorate for the season and upcoming fall time holidays. For Halloween, the big mystery of what to be for Halloween this year dances in my head. As a parent it is fun to dress your kids ups and with older children to see their excitement of what they want to be is pure joy. As a little kid I grew up in a rural area and we did not have any neighbors that were close to us. For Halloween my parents would take us to the town carnival. It was not until I was 9 years old that I got to experience trick or treating for the first time.

There are many memories and thoughts that I associate with fall but I have one in particular that I want to share. Every year on Halloween my brother and I would receive a package from my Grandma and Grandpa Anderson. With the package was a note.

“The other night as I was getting ready for bed I heard a noise and then a knock on the door. It was an old ugly witch and she had a special treat for you. She wanted me to send this to you because she thought that you might like it. I told her thank you and that I’m sure my grand kids will enjoy it. As I took the package I watched her hop on her broom say her magic word and watch her fly off into the dark sky.”

I looked forward to this special package every year because it was always fudge. As a little kid I could not believe that a witch stopped at my Grandma and Grandpa’s house in Payson and brought my brother and I fudge. I always had a picture of what the witch would look like and how she looked on her broom. I guess I believed that it could really be a witch, because I used to think the lady who lived a few houses down from Grandma and Grandpa was a witch.

Grandma and Grandpa are gone and the package does not get delivered anymore but in my heart the memory still lives. There have been a few times I tried to re-create the fudge recipe and it never turns out. I guess there is only one person who has the magic touch.