September and October are my favorite months of the year, weather wise. And since they are almost over, it's really hitting home to me how much I enjoy them.
I love that it's nice and warm in the sun but pretty cold in the shade. I love that the trees (especially the cottonwoods in New Mexico) turn yellow. I love that there are still really pretty flowers everywhere except on BYU campus where they've already ripped everything out and planted fields of pansies.
I spend most of my Septembers and Octobers in high school outside doing marching band, and I guess I had so much fun then that just the weather reminds me of that happy time in life. I didn't like summer band. You had to stand in the sun learning your spot in the marching drill. And while the flutes or someone had a really hard drill, we were usually standing in one place for 48 counts marking time, getting socklines that ruined our hard-earned summer tans.
But then by the time September started, we knew enough of the drill and enough of our colorguard routines that it was actually fun to practice the drill. Plus there were football games and Monday Night Rehearsals and sectionals, which we would always pause for a few minutes to go talk to the cute trumpet or French horn players who were doubtlessly running amok through our rehearsals, complaining if we accidentally hit them with our flags.
After a couple months of this, by the end of October, I usually had a few complete changes of clothes that I'd keep in my band locker, all of which I would wear on Monday Night Rehearsals. And then we had the State Fair Parade, Pageant, and Zia down in Albuquerque. Those were certainly a kick in the pants. Seriously, you get that many teenagers with that much sleep deprivation, who are all nervous and excited for the same event.... it's a gas.
So I still love the fall, and apparently I always will. In the future I want to talk to a high school and be able to volunteer to help their Colorguard. I had such a blast with it when we were successful, and I'd love to help other people love it that much!