So, I think I have a new favorite season. Fall. I never used to like fall, though. Actually, I probably dreaded it the way you dread going to the dentist when you know you have a cavity. The expectation of what will soon occur might even turn your stomach. That's how I always felt about fall.
But now, I LOVE fall. I wait all summer for fall to get here. I count down the days until I can put up the fall wreath that I love so much. I wait anxiously to go buy my Thanksgiving centerpiece and start planning the table tags I'll make. I start burning pumpkin spice candles way before you probably should, but I just can't help myself. I daydream about corn mazes and hayrides and pumpkin patches. (Which makes me giggle right now thinking about the pumpkin Seth bought me for our step last year--the one that was about 2 inches high. He thought he was SO funny. And he was right.) And then I remember him taking me to the patch and getting to pick out our real pumpkin. I remember the corn maze trips with friends which always seemed to turn out fabulous pictures. And the restaurant we eat at beforehand that has the greasy, yummy, southern food. I remember the Thanksgivings spent with friends across our 'friend spectrum.' I remember watching football while laying in the sun that poured onto our couch through the window in the old house. I miss the GT games. And the GT tailgating parties. I miss hearing the whistle of intramural football on the SAC fields. I think about HAC retreats and miss working like that with students. Especially GT students.
Don't get me wrong, I like summer. I like our neighborhood pool. I like the smell of fresh-cut grass. I like the highlights my hair gets after being in the sun. But, none of these things seems to measure up to my fall loves.
I guess this is the difference between living in the north and living in the south, right!? I mean, here, summer is the season that's a little challenging to deal with, and up there, winter is the challenging season. As the attached picture can attest, it is COLD where I'm from. I 'borrowed' this picture from a friend of mine who posted it on his Facebook page. (Thanks, Scott!)
But then, this year, I find myself feeling a little sad about fall. I don't know any corn mazes around here. I don't know where the pumpkin patches are. I want some yummy, small-southern-town food and don't know where to get some. I want to cram as many of us in a car as possible to make the drive. I want the three engineers to put their heads together to help us figure out how to get out of the maze. I want to go to a haunted barn and hold the hands of my friends so hard that we leave imprints on each other. I want to take silly pictures in front of the corn and know that we'll all look great because we always do. I want to lay on my couch in the sun. I want to go on a HAC retreat. But, sadly, all these people are 800 miles away. There will be no engineers in the corn maze, no AM/M hay ride photo, no corn posing, no haunted barn while squeezing each others hands, no Thanksgivings with a random group of great friends, and no GT anything.
I guess I'll have to rely on my pumpkin spice candles, wreath, and my centerpiece to get me through this year. (Yes, I already bought my Thanksgiving centerpiece.) They'll have to get me through until I find new things about fall in Dallas that I enjoy. That's the hardest part about moving from a place you love. You have to find new things that you enjoy, and it seems like nothing can ever compare to your first love.
"Oh, Atlanta, I hear you calling, I'm coming back to you one fine day." Well, at least I hope so.
But now, I LOVE fall. I wait all summer for fall to get here. I count down the days until I can put up the fall wreath that I love so much. I wait anxiously to go buy my Thanksgiving centerpiece and start planning the table tags I'll make. I start burning pumpkin spice candles way before you probably should, but I just can't help myself. I daydream about corn mazes and hayrides and pumpkin patches. (Which makes me giggle right now thinking about the pumpkin Seth bought me for our step last year--the one that was about 2 inches high. He thought he was SO funny. And he was right.) And then I remember him taking me to the patch and getting to pick out our real pumpkin. I remember the corn maze trips with friends which always seemed to turn out fabulous pictures. And the restaurant we eat at beforehand that has the greasy, yummy, southern food. I remember the Thanksgivings spent with friends across our 'friend spectrum.' I remember watching football while laying in the sun that poured onto our couch through the window in the old house. I miss the GT games. And the GT tailgating parties. I miss hearing the whistle of intramural football on the SAC fields. I think about HAC retreats and miss working like that with students. Especially GT students.
Don't get me wrong, I like summer. I like our neighborhood pool. I like the smell of fresh-cut grass. I like the highlights my hair gets after being in the sun. But, none of these things seems to measure up to my fall loves.
I guess this is the difference between living in the north and living in the south, right!? I mean, here, summer is the season that's a little challenging to deal with, and up there, winter is the challenging season. As the attached picture can attest, it is COLD where I'm from. I 'borrowed' this picture from a friend of mine who posted it on his Facebook page. (Thanks, Scott!)
But then, this year, I find myself feeling a little sad about fall. I don't know any corn mazes around here. I don't know where the pumpkin patches are. I want some yummy, small-southern-town food and don't know where to get some. I want to cram as many of us in a car as possible to make the drive. I want the three engineers to put their heads together to help us figure out how to get out of the maze. I want to go to a haunted barn and hold the hands of my friends so hard that we leave imprints on each other. I want to take silly pictures in front of the corn and know that we'll all look great because we always do. I want to lay on my couch in the sun. I want to go on a HAC retreat. But, sadly, all these people are 800 miles away. There will be no engineers in the corn maze, no AM/M hay ride photo, no corn posing, no haunted barn while squeezing each others hands, no Thanksgivings with a random group of great friends, and no GT anything.
I guess I'll have to rely on my pumpkin spice candles, wreath, and my centerpiece to get me through this year. (Yes, I already bought my Thanksgiving centerpiece.) They'll have to get me through until I find new things about fall in Dallas that I enjoy. That's the hardest part about moving from a place you love. You have to find new things that you enjoy, and it seems like nothing can ever compare to your first love.
"Oh, Atlanta, I hear you calling, I'm coming back to you one fine day." Well, at least I hope so.
The temperature at a bank in my hometown in the middle of a WI winter. That's not with windchill, that's the real temperature.
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