The First Day of Fall

During fall, the cooler weather forces the sunny easiness of summer to man up and take note of reality.  Things are going to get serious before they get hard, says fall.  I don’t care if you’ve been free to grow and blossom all summer, says fall to the trees; I am going to strip away your beauty and show everyone what you’re really made of.  It’s a little bit bossy, fall.  I usually step in line and dutifully create a routine that will work until June; work and school and extracurricular activities for kids and adults, productive weekends that leave no stone unturned, no project ignored. 

Despite the authoritativeness in the air, I acknowledged the change of season with a rebellious attitude – I woke up late, at 8am.  These days, 8am is late because I am forty and waking up then tops the list of the most dangerous things that I do, just below wearing skinny jeans with heels to the grocery store.  I thumbed my nose at fall.  I was Joan Jett in powder-blue pajama pants.

The wind was blowing, the sky was partly cloudy, and I was mischievously enjoying the decision that my husband and I had made, that we would not be spending the day at the amusement park due to a chance of rain.  We idly watched the summer end, our amusement park-planned weekend rescheduled at least twice before because something better came up.  Not that we have anything against amusement parks.  It’s just that we can think of a thousand other things we’d rather do than be at one.

So on this first day of fall, all previous scheduling was thrown out the window, and the day stretched before me as I realized I had a blog reader full of blogs to read, a pot of coffee, and little to do other than clean bathrooms, which could wait until I was good and ready.  It felt villainously indulgent.  Screw you, fall.  Summer may be over, but I am not going to surrender to your arbitrary statutes of order and routine.  Not today.

The morning flew by and at eleven o’clock I was still in my pajamas.  My husband was long gone, running unrelated errands like dropping off dry-cleaning and buying toothpaste.  He had fallen victim to fall’s demands, scurrying around like a squirrel stashing acorns in random spots on our lawn, only to be forgotten until new oak trees sprout in the spring.  The kids were hiding in the basement, aware that their own lackadaisical Saturday was in jeopardy if they made a peep or moved a muscle.  They shared my defiance towards fall.  Plus, they knew were expected to help with the bathrooms.

I didn’t mind; they were together, they were quiet, and they were getting along. No button-pushing, no whining, no calling each other out for infractions like breathing too loud or accidentally punching each other in the stomach.  I know when to leave well enough alone.  Harmonious children best clean bathrooms any day.

So there I sat, blazing through blogs like wildfire.  Eleven-thirty.  Eleven forty-five.  At once, the garage door activated; my husband was home.  At once I took in my sleep-ravaged hair, the cup of forgotten coffee at my elbow.  What am I doing?  I asked myself.  It is an unspoken rule that laziness among the lazy is acceptable; laziness among the industrious is profane.  On the first day of fall, the profanity of inactivity is unforgivable.  The guilt-by-laziness feeling bent my rebellion, compelling me to submit.  Fall was forcing its hand.

Like Flash Gordon I raced upstairs, plugged my laptop back into the power source, and haphazardly threw on some clothes.   Any semblance of hygiene was abandoned.  I ran down the hall, grabbed some rags and cleaner from the closet, and called out for the kids to come upstairs and get to work, for goodness’ sakes!  YOUR DAD’S HOME!  Spraying the bathroom cleaner against the countertop, I left them to fend for themselves.  It was not a proud moment.

But in that moment, all I could think of was that I cared not to be judged for my transgressions.  The first day of fall had won, once again.

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This post was inspired by:

Mama Kat's Writing Workshop

Prompt #1:
Happy Fall!  The first day of Fall was September 22nd - share something fall-related you did!