On Fall, My 4th Favorite Season

A few weeks ago, I posted this on Twitter & FB:

"Tonight feels like fall. And you know I hate fall. I hate sweaters & cinnamon. I dislike boots & pumpkins. I tolerate apples."

You all were incredulous. You thought I was kidding. You tried to change my mind. Lots and lots of you tried to change my mind.

I later restated my feelings: "Fall is my 4th favorite season."

That's okay, right? One of them has to 4th, right?

Here's my reasoning: the biggest strike against fall, in my book, is that fall means no more summer. And you know how I feel about summer. I love summer. I'm a summer girl. It's hard for me to imagine that summer isn't everyone's favorite season, although clearly it isn't, because these days it seems all I see are posts rhapsodizing about fall, fall, fall.

My #1 favorite season: summer. Summer is long days, going barefoot, sunsets on the lake. It's fireworks and lazy days and no school and no routine. It's flip flops and sundresses and tan shoulders and ponytails. It's farmer's markets and Long Island Iced Teas and fried shrimp in a basket and boating and swimming and sandy toes and pink noses. Summer food is my favorite food: berries and corn and ice cream and tomatoes and everything cooked on the grill.

2nd favorite season: spring...because it means that winter is over and summer is coming. I know, I know--I have a one track mind. And I like the longer days, that soft afternoon light, buds on branches. I love those very first sunny spring days when it's actually still really cold, but crazy sun-starved Chicagoans wear shorts and wash their cars in their driveways.

3rd favorite season: winter. I don't love the cold, but I do love Christmas and New Year's Eve and parties & cookies. I love shopping for presents and even more, wrapping them. I love the first couple snows and the heavy, cozy flavors of winter--beef bourguignon and risotto, rich red wines, dark chocolate. Another vote for winter: it's when we go on vacation, and vacation reminds me of...you guessed it: summer!

4th favorite season: fall. A few reasons: when you fall-lovers get all excited about apple picking or football games or pumpkin spice lattes, all I see is NO MORE SUMMER. And in my opinion, those quintessential fall things pale in comparison to summer. Boots? I prefer sandals. Apple pie? I'd choose strawberry shortcake any day. Pumpkin spice latte? JUST GIVE ME SUMMER BACK!

I don't like cinnamon & spice flavors, I don't wear orange or brown ever, no matter the season, and I don't want my house to smell like pie or nutmeg or leaves.

I value all four seasons. I appreciate the theological significance of leaves falling, trees preparing to lie dormant before another season of new life can begin. Both my babies will be fall babies, and I do love honeycrisp apples. Fall's not all bad.

But try as you might to change my mind (Jason Miller, Casey), I'll always be a summer girl, and fall will always be my 4th favorite season.

Sweater-adoring, pie-baking fall-lovers, can we agree to disagree?

What's your favorite season and why?

Comments

[km]

i'm with you 100%. i've always maintained that september was the worst month of the year because with it is the reality that summer is over. i actually moved from michigan to hawaii so that i could enjoy 365 days of summer and have never regretted it :).

[Amy]

I have been so looking forward to this post! All I can say is... You're just the cutest. I agree to disagree. The way I see it, you MUST be passionate about silly ol' summer if you could be pregnant in this summer's humidity and still be singing summer's praises. More power to you.

[Annie]

I certainly agree to disagree.

However, I would like to explain my rationale for why fall is probably my favorite season (and I live in Grand Rapids, so you might think I am additionally crazy, but I'll proceed nonetheless). It never used to be, although I have a December birthday and have always enjoyed counting down. But it's grown on me to be my favorite now, less because of my birthday and more because of these other things. Thanksgiving is probably my favorite of reasons. It brings our family together. About half of my cousins have had fall weddings, so it's another time I get to see my family. I also LOVE pumpkin and apple pies. And while I think apple makes the transition to the other seasons better, pumpkin to me is particularly fall-ish. I'm looking forward to trying Starbucks's pumpkin spice latte soon. I love scarves, too, and that's something that in fall is an fashion option and in winter is just a necessity. But I also love the crisp feel of the air as it gets cooler.

However, I will say that I draw the line at cold and that the minute it gets to about forty degrees and going down, I'm done. Especially when it snows. I draw the line at snow.

[Dee Dee]

I just read your entire post to my family. I ABSOLUTELY AGREE 100% WITH EVERY SINGLE WORD! It was a bit strange, I felt as if you somehow had gotten into my mind, left with my thoughts and wrote them down for me!! We are a kindred spirit, Shauna!! Summer for the win!!!!

[Leigh @ hopefulleigh]

I understand your rationale but I'm a fall girl all the way. I love wearing flip flops with sweaters, eating pumpkin pie and caramel apples, drinking Pumpkin Spice Lattes, seeing the leaves change colors, and so much more. Winter is definitely my 4th favorite season but I don't hate it as much now that I live in Tennessee instead of the Chicago suburbs. Much less snow and mayhem to deal with.

[Cathy]

Spring is my favorite....days getting longer, ground thaws out....cannot wait to dig in the dirt and plant seeds and flowers...I almost always do it too soon! Summer is a very, very close second...I thrive when the sun is out and warm and the days are longer...I too love the favorite foods of corn and tomatoes and zucchini and any kind of berry! Fall is third...especially welcome after August humidity in Ohio...I love harvest and the cool nights and warm days.....I do not, do NOT, DO NOT like winter....the short days of no sun bring depression upon me....try as I might to fight it. I do love the holidays and giving gifts is what I do best! I am a caregiver and gift giver! A little snow at Christmas is beautifull. If only I could hibernate away January, February and the beginning of March, I would be a happy girl. Love and Prayers for you and your family Shauna and thanks for sharing your life!

[rena]

Winter! Clean snow covering everything, frosty mornings, fireplaces and wood stoves, afghans, candles burning in the late afternoons and evenings, Christmas lights & decorations around town for 2 months, holidays, decorations, Christmas smells and Christmas trees, extra times with family, hibernating and reading, slower pace of life.

[Chloe]

Reasons I love fall in GR: PERFECT running weather, running to discover new places like Reeds lake trail & the Jersey Junction, ArtPrize, new notebooks, shar pencils, the cutest clothes, overly hot coffee can be appreciated again. Moving into historic quirky houses, pumpkin ice cream, the romance of a gloomy day. I am an East Michigan girl that loves to be back on the West side IN FALL. I love it here! Then again… I work at a waterpark all summer long whistling at rule-breakers and applying band-aids. We can agree to disagree :) I still love you enthusiasm for summer!

[Carol]

I'm with you. I feel most like me in the summer. Spring is right up there too, because I love, love, love, that new light green mist when it first appears on the trees and bushes. This year I'm trying to reframe my relationship with fall and winter, though, because I've also experienced plenty of personal loss in those seasons, and they're still tinged with that sadness for me. I guess we just have to accept that part of the cycle and lean into it, and come out the other side, renewed, sunny, alive.

[Christina]

Shauna...you really need to move to California. Period. I can't help but chuckle when it is still 85 out and Starbucks is selling pumpkin spice lattes, and Costco has gone Christmas already. It feels odd. It isn't Fall here yet...and it won't be for another month or so.
I agree...Summer is bliss. My favorite by far. But...I do have a very cute pair of boots that I can't wait to put on...and my little boys are always so cute in their Halloween costumes, and everything about Christmas brings me joy. So, I am not mourning the loss of summer. Well, not yet.

[Corinne]

I am a summer girl after your own heart...Every last berry lovin', sandy toed, wave chasin', sun kissed bit of it. But I live in the desert right now which makes me a Fall girl because Fall in the desert is like summer everywhere else. Fall means the end of oppressive heat. Fall is when people emerge from their air-conditioned homes and begin smiling again. Fall is when we play outside, take walks and have pink cheeks from the aforementioned outside play as opposed to heat stroke. Fall means open windows and plants that won't fry and dinner on the patio and bike rides to the park. Fall is to Summer in the desert as Spring is to Winter everywhere else - life after death.

[melanielauren@gmail.com]

If you lived in Texas, you might not love summer so much. And you might be a little more excited about fall (= cooler temperatures!!!!). Fall is Houston is like a summer in Michigan ;)

[BJ]

I have to say that for the most part, I get this. Except for me here in the Great White North, winter wins hands-down as my 4th favourite. I used to hate fall, for the same reasons you state, but am learning to embrace it for what it is. However, I am and always will be a summer girl. We don't get away in the winter, though I'm hoping that changes sometime in the near future (as in February 2012!). Came here via Amy's Humble Musings.

[Rhonda]

I have to agree with the previous commenter about Houston. We've just gone through a horrendously hot summer (74 days of 100+ degrees at the last count I saw). I'm not sure anyone here enjoyed this summer. Spring is my favorite season. Fall is my 2nd favorite, with winter and summer flipping between 3rd and 4th, depending on temperatures. This year? Summer is definitely in last place.

[Shawna]

I agree with Shauna...nothing compares to summer. I love riding with the car windows down, the smell of fresh mown hay, the smell of rain on hot pavement...I love being wrapped in the warmth of the year. I love going on vacation in January and having summer in the middle of winter. But would I love it if it was all I had? Would I love it as much if I didn't have the other three too? I don't think so. They make me love my favorite all the more. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

[Amanda D]

I absolutely adored winter when we lived in Utah. Snow covered everything, hot chocolate, long nights. Love.
Now we live in Oregon, and I absolutely adore summer. Here is the weather in mild (seldome hot), the days are long, the beach is close.
I think where you live makes a big difference. There is certainly nothing wrong with disliking fall though. :)

[heidio]

i love summer for all the same reasons you do! my house is cold now, and i can't go barefoot and i hate that. my toes are always cold, and now i have to have piles and piles of blankets when i sleep, instead of a cool breeze on my face and the crickets outside my window.

[Sara]

Summer, summer, summer...I agree. I am also a midwest girl, so that may explain part of it...we live for summer up here (unlike our CA and AZ friends.) The flip flops, the grilling, the lazy days of vacation from school... Being the half-full girl that I am, I make the most of Friday night football games, wearing flip flops with my blue jeans as long as I can, and throwing something on the grill even when the summer days have passed. Love the perspective of fall as your 4th fav...something HAD to be 4th. :)

[Becky]

Though I am a fall lover, I appreciate your argument for summer. My problem is that while I always want my summer to be all those things you listed, it usually turns into just a lot of working (have to pay that darn college tuition!), and friends all leaving while I'm stuck at home in the not-so-scenic middle of Michigan. If I lived by the lake all summer, it would probably be my favorite season, too!

I love fall because it's all about reunion (at least at this point in my life). All my friends come back into town when school starts, the campus ministry I'm involved in gets up and running again, and after a summer that is usually lacking in socialization opportunities, I finally get to see enjoy being with people again. Of course I love the fall wardrobe as well. I'm a layer girl all the way, so give me a cardigan or a hoodie and a nice fall jacket, and I couldn't get much happier!

As for the other seasons, it would have to go spring, summer, winter. Spring is all about new life, and the pure joy that is the end of winter in Michigan, summer is nice weather, but as I said has been a little lonely for me lately, and winter is just too cold and depressing.

[Amber]

Perhaps if I lived more to the north instead of super south Texas, I would agree, but as it stand... summer is just too hot! My order is exact opposite of yours. Agree to disagree though!