An unexpected, yet welcome kiss.

Awakened this morning by the urging of my lovely wife, I rose, somewhat mechanically.  Beset upon my morning chores by instinctual urgency, I heard a faint, yet urgent tapping on a long forgotten door.  As each child was roused into animation, I clumsily set upon a cup of liquid motivation, all the while the incessant, yet oddly comforting tapping began to stir some long forgotten memories.  Behind the muddled haze of normalcy, something wriggled.  As I stood silently, impatiently waiting for my cup to fill, the sudden loud din of city trucks broke me from my silent musing.  Realizing I'd forgotten to bring the barrel to the curb, not pausing to put on shoes, I shambled out the door, and heavy barrel in hand, lumbered to the curb.  Once in place, poised to return to my morning, it was then that it's caress grazed me.  Gently, a sudden rush of remembrance overtook me, as if by  the sudden, unexpected touch of a long forgotten mistress.  My mind suddenly filled with welcome images of apple orchards, wagons of hay drawn by burdened horses along grass lined paths, gently dancing in early morning wind, heady with earthen scents.  Tree lined roads, snaking through mountain passes, brightly painted with blazing shades of red, yellow and orange.  For a moment I closed my eyes, and I was home.  Once again, carefree, unshackled from the drudgery of a sweltering and seemingly unending hellish summer!   I stood, awash in color, gone was the fear and uncertainty of the oppressive heat and stifling humidity, to be replaced with a rush of cool air, and the undeniable yet undefinable sensation of the return of Autumn.  Every year it comes, yet every year seems an eternity.  Without fail, each time it fills me with such joy and revelry.  My very soul revitalized, I breathed deeply of it's tearfully welcomed scent!  Tender arms engulfed me and held fast, reassuring me while urging every fiber of my being to life once again.  Then, once it was assured  I knew it had returned, slowly drifted away, with a single kiss and promise to stay.