By Rory McNelley, Education and Enrichment Coordinator

When I was a kid and we went around to tell people our favorite season, people who picked fall were always the quirky weird ones. No one really likes fall all that much because does it even exist?

As I have gotten older, I have realized that when everyone starts to put out the fall decorations and the leaves change color, it quickly turns to freezing temperatures and snowy afternoons. We don’t even have fall. In the Midwest, we go straight from winter to summer and summer to winter. There are a few nice days near 50 degrees and sunny, three or four if you are lucky.

Now if there was a whole season where I could walk around in a cute vest and step on the leaves to hear the satisfying crunch, it would be at the top of my list too. But I can’t love fall because it lasts a week and then temperatures drop to an unbearable cold. 

If you really enjoy the “fall” season, you really just like Halloween or Thanksgiving. You can mention that when we share our favorite holidays, but you can’t tell me one week out of the year is your favorite season.

Fall really is just Halloween and Thanksgiving. These are great holidays, do not get me wrong, but they are not connected to the weather patterns. I love the decorations for Halloween, the scary skeletons, pumpkins and cobwebs. Though I always have trouble choosing a costume.

This is reason number two fall is not my favorite season. I never know what to dress up as for Halloween. You are telling me that in my childhood, I only got about 15 costumes until I was off to college, where everyone just wears a tube top and cat ears? No, thank you.

The worst part about it was right after the year’s candy collection, you would have the perfect costume idea. You saw it in TikTok and you get excited to wear it next year. When it comes time, you have no recollection of what the costume was, or it doesn’t fit your personality anymore.

The best part about Halloween was the candy. The memories of getting home and dumping out your pillowcase, to discover you only got two of your favorite candy and your sister has already stolen the Jolly Ranchers. Then most of it sits around until Christmas when you realize it has been sitting too long, and you throw it out.

In the end, I see the appeal. Great holidays, great weather, beautiful trees and a break from school are pretty convincing. I would get behind the ‘Fall is my favorite season’ train if I had fall for more than a week. But why am I cold in the morning and then it’s 80 degrees when I’m walking home from class? Why do I go from wearing a t-shirt to a puffer and gloves in a matter of days? Yet waking up every day to study the hourly temperatures on the weather app is not a productive use of my time. 

I can see why you all love fall. If we really had fall, I’m sure it would be everyone’s favorite. What’s more productive is making the life altering decision about what to dress up as for Halloween.