Fall=Comfort

If someone had told me even a couple of years ago how much comfort the season of fall would bring me, I would have thought they were crazy. I love the sun (although it's hard to tell judging by my porcelain complexion), sun dresses, and everything else that goes along with summer. It's always a sad day when it is just cold enough that I have to wear socks and closed-toe shoes. However, the older I've grown I have found so much comfort in the changing of seasons from summer to autumn.

Jordan and I have been watching "Friday Night Lights" for the past couple of weeks (still on season 1). Having grown up in the South, I can personally attest that football is a huge part of life. We start the countdown to the next football season as soon as the National Championship is played. There's a joke that there are 4 seasons--Winter, Spring, Summer, and Football. I would not be exaggerating if I told you I learned the University of Alabama fight song before "Jesus Loves Me."

Football is more than just what happens on the field, although that's a huge part of it. It's growing up cheering for the Crimson Tide (or whichever team that holds your allegiance), it's wearing your favorite player's number from an early age or your team's cheerleading uniform, it's dressing up for football games, it's Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, and Bear Bryant. It's more than September through the beginning of January. Some call it an obsession; to us, it's just a part of life.

Fall brings football. I grew up cheering; to say it was a big part of my life would be the biggest understatement of my life. I literally grew up cheering; many of life's lessons were learned through cheerleading--how to work together as a team, even if you do not see eye-to-eye with everyone and the correct and wrong ways to deal with confrontation. Some of my best friendships to this day were formed through the cheerleading squad.

Whenever Jordan and I watch FNL, I can't help but feel nostalgia for the days of fall in high school. Fall meant football, but it also meant the start of a new school year. New beginnings. Second chances. So whether your allegiance be to the Crimson Tide or the Ramblin' Wreck or what-have-you or to music or to art or whatever, embrace fall with open arms. How will you use this fresh start?