Fall is in the air...

Sep. 8, 2006 - Fall is in the air ...
and I can't wait. My gray sweatshirt is clean (I did get to wear it in Indiana last weekend where fall had settled nicely all around) and waiting for the moment when I won't have a stroke wearing it all day.

I've already worn since mid-August ... but that was more of a "need a sweatshirt to provide comfort to the inside, rather than the outside" wearing. The best days are the ones that utilize this favored piece of clothing (I know some of you wonder if it's really worthy of being called clothing at all ...) for protection from the cold that settles in around the body and the soul!

When I was in my early 20's I had a terrible habit(created by a lifetime of weird stuff) ... I would take my gray sweatshirt(not the same one, this one is only 10 years old) and pull it up around my chin and hide! I had one supervisor who called this my turtle look and gently chided me about the childish habit. Principals had a hard time understanding it, and my sixth graders loved to tease me about it! Even now, if you see me and I'm particularly stressed or nervous, I will begin to retreat into my shell. I will never forget the first time AJ noticed ... we were in a meeting of some sort, he was sitting along side me coloring ... I'm guessing he was about 4 ... and loudly asked me, "Mommy, why are you eating your sweatshirt??" There simply wasn't enough sweatshirt to hide behind then! And to think ... I couldn't wait for him to talk!

Isn't it funny the "mask" we choose to wear and convince our psyche that it protects us from all the boogie men in the world!

Today is a sweatshirt day ... if only in my house with the air conditioner running full tilt!