A Love Letter to Connecticut in the Fall

There’s a movie quote that’s become part of me — something etched into my consciousness that I can’t shake. There was me before that line, and me after it. It’s from the 1999 film American Beauty, and it goes like this:

“Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can’t take it, and my heart is just going to cave in.”

I was 20 when that movie came out. I’m 46 now. Life has a way of beating a notion like that out of you, but it hasn’t taken it from me. I still see that beauty everywhere — in my daughter’s face, in my kids’ victories, in the love of my family, and in the colors the Earth gives us.

Connecticut gives me so many of those moments, especially here in Greater Danbury. Fall in Connecticut overwhelms me. To step outside and see the colors explode while a cool breeze passes over your face — it’s everything.

It’s seeing the water ripple across Candlewood Lake on a sunny October day. It’s hearing the leaves crackle underfoot on Halloween night as your child laughs and runs with their friends.

This place in the fall is unlike anywhere else. Driving to my office in Brookfield this today, I hit that stretch of Super 7 near 1004 Federal Road — the one with hills and water on both sides — and caught the light just right. It reminded me that somehow, everything’s going to be OK.

If someone put all this here, and I get to see it, there has to be something bigger than me — something that makes it all alright.

The smells of chimneys and cookies mix with the air. Possibility hangs everywhere. Energy bounces off the hills as amber, crimson, and gold reverberate through your mind.

Yes, day-to-day life here can be challenging — especially financially — but Connecticut gives back in ways that can’t be measured.

I love Connecticut in the fall so much, it makes my heart want to cave in.