Anticipation

Even though we have precious little summer weather here in Chicago, and even though the first crisp breath of autumn weather means full-blown winter might be less than a month away, I still love fall. The feeling of anticipation is one I recognize and fully enjoy every year, but I rarely analyze it.

So this morning, my two young sons were piled into the back seat of my car and I drove them to preschool, as I have nearly every day since each of them was 3 months old.

My oldest son, who now is 3 years old, was dressed head-to-toe as a firefighter. (There was even an under-the-helmet head-scarf and fire-engine underpants involved.) He and 19 classmates were off to a firehouse today for a field trip, and ODS (oldest dear son) was about as into this outing as anyone could be.

When I was a kid, fall signified field trips, school plays, new clothes and lots of holiday breaks from school. For most of my adult life (before kids), fall meant new clothes, sitting in bars drinking and watching sports, enjoying the smells and sights and sounds outdoors, and radiators that hissed and clanked for the first few days of operation.

And Thanksgiving--I always went home for Christmas, but Thanksgiving was a great excuse to spend four uninterrupted days with my best friends: cooking, drinking, watching TV and generally doing nothing productive while feeling not the slightest bit of guilt.

And now, with two kids, I get to enjoy most of the aforementioned and more. Well, not so much the drinking or hanging out with friends; and our condo doesn't have radiators, much to my chagrin.

Still, fall signifies so many possibilities right around the corner: Patrick and I attend field trips with our sons; we help them choose Halloween costumes. We will attempt trick-or-treating with our boys for the first time this year.

Thanksgiving no longer is four days of slothful behavior but it is a few days with a big family who knows how to dress a TurDuckIn.

Fall is Notre Dame football. (Other schools have football teams, too.)

In an election year, we all have a chance to stage an autumn do-over, and that's cool.

And even though it really bugs me that their preschool stages a Winter Musical instead of a holiday-themed (religious or not) gala, the boys still get to be on stage, singing and shaking it for the cameras.

Of course, Christmas takes on a whole new dimension for parents with kids young enough to really, really believe in Santa and reindeer and The Grinch.

Fall rocks.