House Notes | Trading Sweat for a Sweater | Millie Lily Belle
My weather woes always kicked off in March. The physical sweat had not yet started but the mental sweat was pouring. This was the season of cheer tryouts, writing checks, and adding dates to calendars - all gentle reminders of football season past, which always began with melting makeup, 100% humidity and the sacred art of moving as little as humanly possible.
I had no child playing football, but I did have a few of the cutest cheerleaders you’ve ever seen and nothing would keep me from being there to cheer them on. We’d wrap up tryout season, finish school, and somehow survive the sauna that was cheer camp in Panama City Beach. And when I tell you I don’t have enough extreme words to describe the misery involved with packing a car on a blacktop parking lot at noon in mid-July Florida, I am not kidding.
By the time we made it home, my entire being was done with summer. I’d start imagining an impending fall - holding a warm beverage, wrapped in something fuzzy and cute, sitting outside like the cozy mom I meant to be. These would, alas, be lovely realities for another mama. I live in the South now, and fall is not a guest that arrives early.
And then—sometime between one last heat advisory and the first pumpkin display at Publix—it happens. The mornings tease you with a breeze that almost feels legitimate. You step outside to walk the dog and think, Wait… could the humidity actually be below 80%? You’ll probably still be sweating by noon, but for that fleeting moment, hope is real.
This is when everything starts to feel different. The same bleachers that once burned the backs of your legs now no longer promise to destroy your flesh. Sweatshirts emerge from closets. Gameday buttons are worn without generating enough solar energy to keep the power grid running. The concession stand begins offering hot chocolate, and you’re no longer buying water bottles to tuck under your arms just to survive the second quarter.
The shift is subtle at first - blink and you’ll miss it - but it’s there. The light changes, the air loosens its grip, and you remember what a breeze feels like. Around here, that’s all the permission we need to celebrate what is likely “fake fall”, but a beloved variation nonetheless.
By the time real fall finally shows up - usually somewhere between Halloween candy clearance and the first “Merry & Bright” aisle at Target - I’m ready to take a victory lap. It’s time to open the windows, take a mid-afternoon (instead of pre-dawn) walk without regret, and wear that sweatshirt for the entire day. I’ve survived summer and am starting my seasonal comeback tour.
I want you to find this same joy, so I made a little something to help us all be intentional about this autumnal gift - the Cool Weather Comeback Plan. It’s a free printable filled with small, happy ways to mark the shift. Print it, hang it, and check things off as the temps finally drop. Because even if “real fall” never fully arrives, we can still make the most of fake fall while it lasts.