I think I must be crazy to say fall might be my favorite season. How dare I say one nod to crisper weather far outweighs the joy of tubing season, Christmas, or ending one of those after-dark runs when it’s just below a comfortable setting. But I can’t help but look forward to football games I don’t exactly become overjoyed with, and apple cider I never end up buying.
I was rushing out the door at 6:45 this morning carrrying about 60 lbs between my giant purse, my giant laptop, my mega power supply, my overnight bag with my makeup and 10 lb computer science book (clearly I pack a punch into my day) and I almost stopped to shiver.
It made me think of October mornings at North Avenue Elementary. Me and my friends would sit on the picnic benches (the same ones we ate lunch on) after our parents would drop us off. I have no idea where my sister and her friends went – I guess around the corner to make fun of whatever acid-washed camel toe Jennifer P would come to school in that day. We’d sit there in our t shirts, bicycle shorts and windshorts (was that really the style?), in a huddle. Lunch boxes with their apple-chaped icey packs by our sides and backpacks on our backs. Teeth chattering, I guess we played a couple rounds of ‘Telephone’, or ‘Gossip’, or something that involved being close to conserve body warmth. We’d sit there and tough out 20 minutes of, what we thought was freezing – because thanks to Texas, it’d be bright, sunny, and perfect weather to run around and scream at recess – and play ninja turtles, or whatever we did that day. It seemed awful. Like how could we be subjected to this temperature change?
The first cool, crisp surprise morning of fall always reminds me of that.
