About this time of year...

...when the mountains are flecked with red and the days are cooling off and everything is starting to look a little faded, I get crazy homesick for Pittsburgh.

I thought I knew what autumn was when I moved out to Pittsburgh. Heck, I thought I knew what trees were. Come to find out, I had no idea. About either.

Fall in Utah is usually an event that lasts a couple of weeks but fades quickly. Back East, Fall is a process. The leaves keep their green until all of a sudden, they burst into color, vibrant and very alive. Color seeps into the trees one leaf, one branch at a time in a dizzyingly beautiful process. Nothing fades until after weeks of kaleidoscope landscapes, miles of trees in every shade and hue between maroon and apple green. Everything is vivid and bright and showy, and everything is beautiful. For someone who can't get enough of picturesque landscapes (or enough photos), it was heaven.

I realized this morning that my homesickness is fitting right now for another reason: it was exactly two years ago that I realized Pittsburgh had become home. I'd been there for one full month and I spent most of that time trying to adjust and figure out where and who I was. But then, one beautiful September afternoon as I walked home from school, I realized that I was happy. Something had clicked, and I was home. And then, about a week later, I realized I wanted to marry Tim and I'd have to leave this new home much sooner than I'd expected. I have never regretted that decision, but I do miss Pittsburgh sometimes.

I love my Utah home and mountains and I wouldn't trade them for anything...except maybe, some days, for an East coast autumn.