Black Ink and Parchment

Not everyone wants an autumn filled with pumpkin patches and matching pajamas.

Some of us want foggy roads, old books, unanswered questions, handwritten letters, and perhaps one mildly irresponsible decision. Here’s a bucket list to get you started:

 For the Romantic

☐ Write someone a letter you never intend to send
☐ Watch the sunset somewhere unfamiliar
☐ Buy flowers for yourself
☐ Have coffee alone
☐ Read poetry beneath a blanket
☐ Dance in your kitchen after midnight

For the Nostalgic

☐ Revisit somewhere from childhood
☐ Listen to an old playlist
☐ Look through photographs
☐ Cook something your family made growing up
☐ Write about your favorite autumn memory
☐ Recreate an old tradition

For the Slightly Unhinged

☐ Take a spontaneous nighttime drive
☐ Read a gothic novel after midnight
☐ Visit an old cemetery
☐ Wear something dramatically Victorian
☐ Order dessert first

For the Writer

☐ Write a poem about October
☐ Start a journal
☐ Write a short ghost story
☐ Describe your town as if it were haunted
☐ Write about someone you miss
☐ Write the first page of a novel you’ll probably never finish

For the Person Who Needs to Let Go

☐ Delete the conversation you keep rereading
☐ Donate something belonging to an old version of yourself
☐ Forgive someone without contacting them
☐ Write down what you’re leaving behind
☐ Spend one evening completely alone
☐ Let yourself admit that something is over

For the Southern Gothic Soul

☐ Drive beneath Spanish moss
☐ Photograph an abandoned house
☐ Watch a storm roll in
☐ Visit an old bookstore
☐ Find the oldest cemetery in your town
☐ Sit on a porch after dark
☐ Listen to cicadas at dusk

You don’t need to accomplish all of these. Autumn isn’t another season to optimize, but to let a few things remain undone. To add new layers to your life story and to knit fresh memories you can wrap yourself in when winter comes.