Fall Fun
© Can Stock Photo / gajdamak
The text pinged on my phone. I looked down to see a picture of my youngest twin daughter accepting a homecoming proposal from some young man who looked slightly embarrassed to be holding his sign in the middle of the high school hallway.
I texted back: “What the heck’s going on there? I leave town for five minutes and boys show up?”
My wife texted back a smiley face, then “She’s pretty excited about it.”
I sighed. Fall, normally my favorite season, was off to an inconspicuous start. I got back to work at our trade-show booth, wondering when the other shoe would drop.
Later that night, my phone pinged again. This time my other daughter was smiling next to a boy with a sign. I sighed realizing the days of pumpkin patches and trick-or-treat were fading, replaced by dances and boys.
Me and the PRB team finished at the park trade show and headed home. As I walked in days later, I was greeted by my daughters and wife giggling over ideas for homecoming dresses and costumes for spirit week.
It looked like they were all happy—so I joined in, deciding this situation was an either get on board or be left behind proposition. The days sped forward. Before I knew it, we were taking pictures before the dance and picking them up at the end of night.
Life moved on. The boys disappeared. And my wife and I got back to more dad-friendly fall fun like mountain biking and hiking through the fall foliage.
After one of those trips, my girls stopped me. “Dad, when are we going to decorate the house for Halloween?”
My heart leaped.
“How about today?”
“Perfect,” she said.
And off we went. Decorating the house. Making plans for trick-or-treat. And, going to buy a pumpkin to carve.
It felt like fall again—at least to this dad—and I realized my girls weren’t getting that old, or maybe there were certain traditions that would hold no matter their age. It made me happy—as did reading through this month’s effort. The issue is chock-full of fall traditions you can steal for your hometown—or bring to your family. Either way works.
Happy Halloween!
Rodney J. Auth
Publisher
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