{"id":7686,"date":"2013-10-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/togethercounts.com\/fresh-in-the-fall\/"},"modified":"2013-10-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-10-11T00:00:00","slug":"fresh-in-the-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/togethercounts.com\/es\/fresh-in-the-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh in the Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fall is the season I look forward to the most. Between the crispness of the air and the football games, autumn serves as\u00a0an emblem of new beginnings.<\/p>\n

Although I\u2019ve been out of school for,\u00a0ahem<\/i>, several years now, my mind still tracks time in semesters and backpacks. And now that I\u2019ve married a teacher and my son is in kindergarten, I\u2019m pretty sure that will always be the case.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It also means new traditions. As we watch my son Miles run through piles of leaves in our backyard, giddy with excitement, I can\u2019t help but wonder how\u00a0a season that essentially signifies the end of something can be so beautiful.<\/p>\n

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\u2014all kinds of colorful varieties that she works into fresh recipes.<\/p>\n

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\u2019ve been holding on to, starting anew with fresh hope. The Together CountsTM\u00a0 <\/sup><\/a>\u00a0program 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.<\/p>\n

What fall traditions do you have with your family?<\/p>\n

By day, Caleb Gardner is a social media director, but the opinions here are exclusive to him.\u00a0He\u2019s also a husband and father, and\u00a0moonlights as a\u00a0musician, writer at\u00a0<\/i>The Exceptional Man,<\/i><\/a>\u00a0and photographer.<\/i><\/p>\n

For more fall fun, check out these Together Counts\u2019 resources: <\/b><\/p>\n