Fall Rituals

Well, as I sit here tonight writing this, it certainly doesn’t feel like fall. It is 85 degrees here at the present moment, and somewhat humid. I still can’t really say I mind, because tomorrow the weather is going to change, and next week we have highs in the 70s forecast for the foreseeable future. We may be seeing the end of our summer weather.

However…there are some fall rituals that I LOVE. One of my primary autumn favorites is happening right at this very moment. Right now on the tv is….FOOTBALL! NY Giants football, to be more precise. I’m watching a pre-season game of the Giants vs. New England Patriots. And right now, we’re winning, which as any Giants fans out there knows, we have to appreciate any time we can get it!

I have always liked watching football. Well, since I got into my teens, I guess. When I was a little kid, my primary memory of football games is how much I hated when they went into overtime and ran into a show that I wanted to watch. Because, my dad didn’t care much about tv otherwise. My brother, sister and I could pretty much plan on watching whatever tv sitcom or other show we wanted to watch – unless there was a Giants football game on! Nothing took precedence over that!! And I couldn’t do justice to it if I tried, to try and paint a picture for you of what my dad was like while he was watching a game! For him, being a spectator was to be part of the action. When some player was carrying the ball, or the quarterback was trying to avoid the rush, Dad was sitting there leaning right and left, pushing forward, like he was trying to send the player one way or another by sheer force of will! It was an ongoing source of teasing by my siblings and myself, and he was always a really good sport about it as we pantomimed the way that he “watched” a game.

As I sit here right now thinking about what I really love about the onset of football season, I’m realizing that over the past few years, these few months have become a part of my life in a way that they never were before. My dad passed away a little over three years ago,  and since then, watching a Giants game just feels…different. It sounds crazy, but I always feel closer to my dad during football season.