Just in case you didn't immediately think of the black-eyed peas I thought I would include a link so you can pump yourself up after reading this.
It's the beginning of the month, and wherever you are, you are probably starting to see the season shift. What is your favorite part of this time of year? What do you hate about this season? Are you already overwhelmed with the Autumn bucket list, the apple picking, pumpkin picking, decorating, fall festival, apple cider, haunted hay ride, etc, etc....
It can be a lot. And I think it makes it even more stressful because it feels like there's a time limit on all of it. Like, right after Labor Day we need to do all these things because we only have 6-8 weeks before it's Halloween and then IT'S OVER!! After that, clean up all the fall shit and get ready for Thanksgiving (that you can celebrate for precisely 72 hours) before we shift immediately into the Christmas season and we get handed another cultural/seasonal bucket list that you must do in the next 4 weeks. Sheesh!
Let's take a step back before we already end up in 2024. Maybe I should have named this post Let's Get Totally Stressed Out! (in here).
Have you seen these memes? BTW, memes and reels are my love language. Anyway, there is the meme of Humpty Dumpty Has A Great Fall, and it's an egg wearing a sweater and apple picking, and wearing a scarf, and drinking cider by a fire, and drinking a PSL. It just gives me all the warm fuzzy feels, I WANT Humpty Dumpty's fall!!
Then there is this really cynical meme, it's the fall bucket list: mom edition (which pisses me off for a bunch of reasons that I'll get into another day). It lists out all the things and then has a snarky comment beside it. For example, apple picking - spend 5 hours in the heat listening to your kids whine about how it's too hot and there are too many bees and you end up spending $100 for a bushel of apples that you'll never actually make into applesauce... or something like that, and the list goes on, at least 10 items which a similar vibe.
Now, both of these memes are true, right? I mean Humpty Dumpty seems like an adorable single gay man living an introverts dream life, and the mom list feels like an overworked, burned-out, suburban sprawl hellscape. And I know, one of those things feels more relatable to you than the other, but it's all a spectrum. We get to decide, and we get to be realistic about it.
I mean, as moms we all crave those days to just be left alone with no screaming, fighting, or whining, so we can actually enjoy the world around us. I tend to give up and just say it's not worth taking my kids here because it will make me feel more miserable than it's worth. But we can't totally live our lives that way, can we?
So here is what I am suggesting. A compromise. Let's use Humpty Dumpty as an ideal of the things we'd like to do in the next 29 days, but then also use cynical mom list to inform our decisions and make it realistic for our own lives.
Maybe you've already started your fall festivities this year (I have not), but what in the next 3 weekends do YOU really want to do? What sounds fun to you? Anything!
Maybe a wine tour? Pick your own pumpkin? Pumpkin Carving Party? Halloween Party? Just start with getting excited about something. Then we can let in the reality. Here's one for me.
I would LOVE to host a Halloween party, get all the decorations, and have a ton of people over, and I envision the kids running around. There are adorable little Martha Stewart snacks, and all the cute Target signs like 'witch, please!', and I'd dress like Bette Midler in Hocus Pocus. Oh, what fun!!
But the reality is, I'm in a new town, I don't have friends, I still have unpacked boxes, I'm NOT going to do all that work and I DON'T want to clean up afterward.
So where is the middle ground? Well, I can still pin all the party posts on Pinterest because... maybe someday. And I'm not going to give myself shit about it because I still have boxes, and I'm not going to feel like a loser because I don't have friends yet, that doesn't help anyone. But maybe I CAN go to Target and grab a couple of Halloween snacks, and find some decor in the dollar section, and one night that kids don't have activities after dinner we could light a bunch of candles and have the snacks, and play the Monster Mash and Thriller and then watch Hocus Pocus.
Yeah, that doesn't sound too bad, sounds pretty doable and fun. And even if my kids are going to be turds and call me lame and say they are too old for a dance party. I am NOT going to let them bring me down, I am going to dance and SHOW them that you are never too old to dance.
Yeah.
So what is it for you? What are you going to get excited about?
