Fall Is In The Air

Can you feel Fall in the air? Maybe it's just me but there's something thrilling about the start of a new season. And having only experienced summer so far in New York I'm excited to be here for another season.

I am a very sensory person and perhaps it's my creativity or my being whimsical, but I have strong connections between the senses and pretty much anything (as you may have noticed from my Rainy Day Music post). Or maybe everyone is that way, I'm not sure because I'm not everyone :)

Walking back from lunch one day last week, I commented on how "Fall" the day felt. Pointing out the cooler temperatures, light breeze, the golden sheen to the sunlight, and how it even smelled like Fall. Or at least what I guess Fall smells like in the city, not quite the same as Fall in West Liberty...

The results of some teamwork pumpkin carving last fall

Anyways, there are plenty of things associated with Autumn in most peoples' minds: pumpkin flavored everything, desserts consisting of apple and cinnamon, leaf piles, hay rides, going back to school (so strange for me not to be doing this year) breaking out the sweatshirts and jeans, Halloween, apple cider, pumpkin carving... And football.

Football has always been a big part of fall for me, which I didn't really think about until I went to college. Friday nights without a football game just seemed empty and sad. And it's not that I'm even a huge football fan. I understand it well enough to get by but there's no way I could have an in-depth conversation about it, or even watch an entire game intently. Nonetheless, I had been going to football games most of my life, thanks to my dad being a high school football coach for most of my life. Then, in high school, I was in marching band and the flag corps so I was at every game.

Senior year flag corps 2010

Working at Hill Country on Saturdays reminds me of being at home for college football games. Of course it's the Texans or Longhorns or Cowboys playing instead of the Buckeyes, and it's multiple people, drinking and cheering, rather than just my dad, who still probably cheers and hollers about as loud as any of the guys at the restaurant. It's amazing how these little things, just being around guys excited for the sport, yelling for and at their team, can take you to a whole different place while reminding you of the time (season) you're in.

Overall I guess the point of this post is to point out how certain things will always be associated with certain times. In this case there are many, many, many elements that prove to me that it is indeed Fall, some are sensory--golden light, chill in the breeze, scent of apple-cinnamon--while others are memory or tradition-based--carving pumpkins, watching football. I never really thought of football as a big part of my life and yet, mostly thanks to my dad, it was a huge part of my life as well as an identifier of Autumn for me.