Fresh in the Fall
Fall is the season I look forward to the most. Between the crispness of the air and the football games, autumn serves as an emblem of new beginnings.
Although I’ve been out of school for, ahem, several years now, my mind still tracks time in semesters and backpacks. And now that I’ve married a teacher and my son is in kindergarten, I’m pretty sure that will always be the case.
As my son grows, I hope he sees this time of year as a chance to reinvent himself, much like his father does. Fall means new people, and new opportunities to be a different version of you.
It also means new traditions. As we watch my son Miles run through piles of leaves in our backyard, giddy with excitement, I can’t help but wonder how a season that essentially signifies the end of something can be so beautiful.
My wife switches up which garden vegetables she grows in our backyard during fall months. In the summer our plates are full of strawberries and tomatoes as big as fists; in the fall she feeds us with squash, chard, beets, dill—all kinds of colorful varieties that she works into fresh recipes.
This is what makes fall so exciting to me. Cold weather brings tangible changes that I can use as an excuse to let go of some things I’ve been holding on to, starting anew with fresh hope. The Together CountsTM program is a refreshing reminder that the start of a new season is an opportunity to create memorable family moments, to get outside and enjoy the season together – and fall is the beginning of whatever I want it to be.
What fall traditions do you have with your family?
By day, Caleb Gardner is a social media director, but the opinions here are exclusive to him. He’s also a husband and father, and moonlights as a musician, writer at The Exceptional Man, and photographer.
For more fall fun, check out these Together Counts’ resources: