Megan Navarro
As a kid, I vividly remember driving along the Texas countryside as either the back road or the main route to get to our destination. Mostly, we were going to visit family or we were just taking a day trip on some Saturday to go somewhere “different” for dinner — because, when you grow up in a small town, that’s just what you did.
I think I always knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to eventually have my own house in the countryside.
I’ve always gazed in awe at the farmhouses that have the wrap-around porch — or, really, any porch for that matter — with beautiful, in-season flowers hanging on hooks or planted in the nearby garden. A happy dog would be running in the yard, sleeping on the porch or watching for passerby cars. Some of the houses took up a lot of space with several acres of property, while others had just enough, but all felt like they were the perfect fit for where they stood.
The houses would seemingly have this welcoming atmosphere when you drove by them, where, even if you didn’t live there, you felt like you were home. And that’s what I have tried to instill in every house I have resided in since I got married four years ago, especially so with the one that our names are now attached to — our own house in the countryside.
From the second you walk into my house, I want you to immediately feel like you are walking into your own home, but it’s just four different walls.
I feel like this is even more true when we are about to enter into a new season: fall. Sept. 22 is the official start of fall, or the autumnal equinox, in the Northern Hemisphere, even though, here in Texas, it may not feel like fall just yet around that time — pumpkin space latte in hand or not.
To me, the fall season means so many things.
It means putting on your favorite music and cozying up to read a book or endlessly binge-watching a TV show under a warm blanket. Yes, that includes your annual rewatch of the fall classics, including “Gilmore Girls,” of course.
It means cultivating those lasting friendships and spending even more quality time with your family.
It means supporting that local business at their annual harvest festival.
It means getting that instant nostalgia of sitting around the living room TV for football Sundays with your dad as a kid, hearing the National Football League theme song and smelling the roast that’s in the oven.
I can’t wait to see what all four seasons will look like at our new farmhouse in the Texas countryside.
We’ve seen summer, with the most beautiful pink and orange sunsets that make their way at 8 o’clock in the evening and the native flowers that grow wild on the property, including my favorite: sunflowers.
Now, we get to see autumn set in where, hopefully, we can witness the leaves change color as much as they do here. We get to feel the temperature change to a comfortable chill and we can sit on the front porch, gazing upon the life that we have built.
Here’s to seeing what’s in a home, more than what we have already experienced.
Navarro is the executive editor for the Hays Free Press/News-Dispatch. She can be reached by emailing [email protected].
