I don’t know about you, but I’ve been stuck in a big ol’ rut lately. The weariness of six months of quarantining has taken a toll on me. My routine is shaky at best. The hours in the day seem to pass in these odd mega surges: my dishwasher is ALWAYS running and my children have strong feelings about me as an assistant in their remote learning. Let’s just say, it hasn’t been pretty around here lately. But to quote the great Phil Collins, “I can feel it coming in the air tonight.” Fall is finally here, and I’m looking at the world through pumpkin-colored glasses!
I love fall!
I’ve been an autumn lover for as long as I can recall. I lived for football Saturdays growing up in a college town, I’d take a cider doughnut over another kind any day of the week, jumping into piles of leaves was my love language, and don’t even get me started on pumpkins!
As a kid, I would wish that I could live in a constant state of Vermont…as in a state of mind, and I guess the actual state, too. Maybe it was because I loved the movie Baby Boom, but I envisioned my life spent in flannels, making applesauce, and everything smelling a bit like maple. You know…like in Vermont. Come to think of it, that’s pretty close to my life now if by “making” applesauce you mean opening the jar from the pantry, but I digress.
Fall is good for my soul! It’s a chance to get cozy, relax, breathe in that crisp air, and slow down; something that oddly enough my family and I need. Even in a pandemic, I feel like we’re constantly moving or doing something around the house, and I could use a good couch cuddle session with the fam while watching It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
I know I’m not the only one in the I Heart Autumn Club, I can spot a fellow fall-aholic a mile away, sure she’s usually sweating in a scarf that is completely unnecessary for the temperatures of the day, but there she is.
An obsession with fall is pretty common, in fact, there is a science to it. We’re conditioned at a young age for the excitement of fall: a new school year, new school supplies, seeing friends. This conditioning of excitement marked by the beginning of a season stays with us long after our school days are through. Fall marks a new beginning, a fresh start that we correlate with the season that ignites emotions and inspires us to hit restart.
As I jump booted feet first into the most glorious of seasons, I too am hoping for that fresh start. I hope the cooler air will motivate me to hit the roads again with more walks and runs. I hope the longer nights will provoke me to disconnect and be more present. I hope the extra blankets on the bed inspire me to go to sleep earlier. I hope that the smell of fall baking in my home will give me that sense of comfort that I’m always in search of these days. I hope that those first quiet sips of pumpkin-flavored coffees in the morning will give me those moments of self-care that I don’t give to myself enough.
I know I’m putting a lot of things on fall, but I know she can deliver…she always has!
