Every fall, as the pumpkin spiced lattes, Bean boots, and crisp, warm flannel shirts begin to catch our eyes on college campuses across the country, I'm reminded of something.
I'm reminded how the quotes, food, and overall social media-based atmosphere of fall is geared more towards women than men, and I'm here to give you a little bit of a different viewpoint.
Fall is about all those girly things to some extent, yes, but by the same token, it's about the appreciation of nature during a quiet morning in the woods, the blood-curdling screams of little children on Halloween, and, most of all, the savage, adrenaline-pumpking, trash-talking beauty that is college football.
All through the hot, dreary summer, girls talk about how excited they are to slip into their favorite pair of leggings and/or pajama pants so they can curl up by the fire when the weather dips below 70 degrees.
Well, you know why I'm excited? I'm excited to be able to "slip" into my Jeep, drive into the woods, and shoot guns at adorable animals like nobody's business.
When the time finally arrives and summer "collapses into fall," as they say (cue acid reflux), I'm not nearly as excited to post a picture of my girlfriend and me carving pumpkins as I am to shove a knife into that poor, fat orange sphere in the first place!
Now, don't get me wrong.
I love doing the things that make any girl, who tolerates my weirdness, as happy as she can be, so if that means strapping on the Bean boots and smiling for the camera, so be it.
Furthermore, I've always enjoyed watching movies such as Hocus Pocus and Halloweentown, especially since we all know Grandma Aggie is the baddest, kindest grandmother-witch combo to ever haunt our television screens, anyway.
But if you honestly expect me not to keel over in fits of laughter at the autumn-based Instagram captions that fall like dominos through my news feed, you've got another thing coming.
If you expect me not to roll my eyes when 10,000 girls roam my college campus in the exact same outfit, you'd better think differently.
Lastly, if you expect me to sit through a hayride that involves a chainsaw-armed lunatic clown without either A.) peeing my pants, or B.) beating him to a pulp (and for good reason)...well, you probably won't blame me there.
My point here isn't to make fun of all the things that girls do during fall (even though that's part of it).
Rather, I'd like to encourage you-girls and guys- to take a step back from the obsessions with getting the perfect fall picture or even the perfect wing-cupped mallard, as amazing as those two may sound.
Just take a moment, even one quick, lingering second, and look around at all God has created.
Appreciate the leaves crunching underneath your feet, gaze as deeply as possible into their pigmented veins to see the true colors, and carve into that pumpkin like Jason from Texas Chainsaw Massacre when the time is right.
Fall is here, people, and whether you're a girl, a guy, or are going as something else for Halloween, it's time to strap it up and take a leap into the leaves.
