When I was younger my Mum went back to college,
university to do an undergraduate course with honours and then onto post grad
studying. When I did these things I was
a fun and fearless twenty year old with zero responsibilities or f**** to
give. My Mum was busy; she was a busy
single parent/employee/student who had to prioritise what she spent time
on. This meant we didn’t do much of the
twee ‘celebrating the seasons’ stuff.
In spite of this (or because of it) I now love
doing all of it. I love autumn, the cosiness,
the crisp leaves, and every cliché there is.
I am excited for Halloween and getting to dress up or eat loads of
sweets or see kids in cute costumes walk up and down the street telling jokes
in exchange for sugar. And don’t even
get me started on the fun that is Bonfire Night. Although I’ve never had a Guy before, we’ve
had our own bonfire parties with baked tatties, fire pits, fireworks and
sparklers. (If your pinterest board is
called Falling for Fall or similar, I’m there.)
I'm a sucker for all things Christmas and used to adore the first snow
in Scotland. Quite frankly you can
hashtag ‘basic white girl’ after most things I like. Well, except for Starbucks, I’m a canny Scot
after all.
When we got married I kept thinking, “great I’ll
have kids and then instil in them a love of celebrating the seasons.” But this would take. Way. Too. Long.
I want to do it now (can you tell I was a pandered to youngest child?). I was also a respite/foster carer whilst
living in Singapore and quickly realised that babies, although utterly adorable
(shock, horror, big revelation) mess
up your plans.
I mean, I adored those kiddo’s, loved them like my
own and shredded my heart every time I had to give them back. However, I didn’t do half of the things I
planned to do with them. We made forts
in the living room, flew kites at marina barrage, hung out at west coast park,
ate ice cream in HDB play parks and splashed around in gardens by the bay – yet
we never did any of the pre-planned educational and enriching activities I’d
pinned on pinterest. (go figure?)
So I decided I would just give myself all of those
lovely seasonal things / take a greater interest in the Slow Movement / become
more mindful myself and do these lovely things just because I felt like it.
With the change in seasons now veritable I have a
list of everything I want to do before autumn stops being clear, clean and
crisp and turns to soggy, boggy and foggy.
So far I want to:
- Make caramel apples
- Try a new pumpkin recipe
- Pick a pumpkin and carve it
- Go in a corn maze at Darts Farm
