Autumn in Boston has come to a rapid end (though today’s 65+ degree weather was a strange and surprising delight!). The leaves have changed and (thanks to the cold snap last week) fallen and it’s that time of the year that we start reflecting.

Any of this sound familiar? “OMG HOW IS IT ALREADY NOVEMBER?” “NO WAIT WHERE DID NOVEMBER GO I’M 30,000 WORDS BEHIND ON MY NANOWRIMO!” “OH DEAR, IT’S THANKSGIVING & I HAVEN’T DONE ANY OF MY CHRISTMAS SHOPPING” and so on and so forth.

Halloween comes and goes in a whirl of weirdly wonderful photos on your facebook wall. I had friends this year dressed as everything from Carlos Danger to the devil herself. I spent the evening watching The Voice reruns and eating sinfully decadent gobs of candy; not a bad holiday night if I say so myself.

Of course, here in Boston Halloween came in with a bit of a dulled bang – we had just won the World Series and our city elections were only five days away. Our city already had a lot on its mind, I guess you could say. As have I.

I spent this Fall in and out of the city I call home, physically and mentally. I traveled to California (Sacramento & Tahoe City) to join the California Young Democrats for their Biannual Convention, I hit San Antonio & Austin for the first time ever for the Young Democrats of America, and spent a lot of weekends in Central & Western Mass on behalf of awesome statewide 2014 candidates. I used up a lot of my nights marathon’ing Supernatural with The Boyfriend & doorknocking all over Southie for the inspiring Suzanne Lee. I got to know my own neighborhood again, and made it a mission to get to know more of this incredible city everyday.

I left my job at The Theater Offensive and am in the middle of restarting my 24-hour political life. I forgot to make plans for Thanksgiving and go re-elected Chair of the Greater Boston Young Democrats. We welcomed in a new Board for the Young Democrats of Mass (yours truly was elected Vice Chair) and planned to kick off a brand new Women’s Caucus after the voters of Massachusetts chose to send Katherine Clark to the ballot to replace Ed Markey. My beloved State Rep was elected as Mayor to replace the institution that is Tom Menino.

This Fall has been remarkable for both it’s big moments, and it’s small ones. Seeing my brother get married. Being invited to speak at Boston University. Spending an evening with Boston journalists and new friends dissecting local politics. As I job hunt and get back to my roots (making myself write everyday, refreshing my coding memory, designing for the sake of creating), I realize more and more how grateful I am for all that’s gone on in 2013. It’s been a rough one at times (one is never happy to be jobless; Suzanne unfortunately lost her bid for City Council), but this is the month for gratitude, isn’t it?

I feel like I’d rather focus on that – the gratitude – than panic over all I haven’t done yet and all I never will.

With that, I send you into the holiday season with a full heart and a welcome back!