Fall & Pumpkin Seeds

There’s nothing better than getting a care package from people you love.  Especially when those people are my family and my Mom puts in extra effort to send me an entire batch of cookies—they may not have arrived entirely intact, but they tasted exactly like home and that was all that mattered. 

My sister sent me a little care package of her own, which consisted of the mail I’ve received since I left, pumpkin seeds, and a letter. 

My family carved pumpkins for the first time in years this fall, and I wasn’t there.  It’s always been something I’ve loved to do, but it hasn’t happened in a while.  So of course they did it the year I left.  (Not on purpose, it just worked out that way.)

I had one request.  That my sister would send me the pumpkin seeds once she cooked them.  She told me she would, but I didn’t think it would actually happen.  However, to my pleasant surprise, I received the notification yesterday that I received a care package.  Once I retrieved it and opened it I discovered an entire Ziploc bag of home-baked pumpkin seeds.  In my sister’s handwriting there was a note attached that said, “The guts of Mr. Pumpkin fried and salted.”  I couldn’t help but smile.  My sister managed to represent her personality perfectly on a hot pink sticky-note. 

For me, pumpkin seeds are one of the most prominent signs that it is finally fall.  Granted, the leaves will turn, the air will possess a distinct chill, and the world will prepare for winter, but I can’t accept that fall has arrived until I have pumpkin seeds in my hand. 

There is a distinct taste associated with pumpkin seeds that I can’t entirely place.  Mostly it’s the taste of earth.  As if I can taste how the leaves feel when they are falling from the trees.  I don’t know how to describe the taste of fall, but the closest thing would be pumpkin seeds. 

Anything pumpkin has a distinct fall flavor, but I’ve always reserved pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.  I can’t make myself eat it even though it’s been served in Gwinn several times in the past few weeks. 

I’ve decided I’m picky about food that way.  I’ll eat anything and everything (except bubble tea, which makes me want to puke).  I guess I tend to reserve certain foods for certain seasons. 

Currently I am content eating pumpkin seeds, drinking coffee, and listening to Death Cab for Cutie as I sit by my window. 

It’s a perfect Seattle day.