While it can be sad news to say goodbye to those long, lazy summer nights, what you get in return is pretty exciting: Being reunited with your sweaters. It's like cozy mode gets activated and we forget all about those flimsy white summer dresses and the Wednesday night snow cone runs.
There’s no need left for watching fireflies dance at night or slipping into a good pair of leather sandals. Gone are beach days with our toes in the sand, replaced with brisk park walks, booties crunching through golden leaves, and beanies low over our ears. We’re ready for the cold and the rosy cheeks that come with it. After all, we've got pumpkin spice on the brain now, and there's no finer way to buy something that tastes like autumn than with a sweater around your shoulders.
But as you make that transition from summer to fall, there's a bevy of feelings you go through once you're reunited with those knits. It’s not a simple task to unpack all that goodness. Saying goodbye to one thing and hello to another is never really an easy process, right? Below are the seven emotional stages of being reunited with your sweaters. Are you ready to take the plunge?
1. Pure Child-Like Excitement
The time has come! You take the pumpkin pie out of the fridge, light all the cinnamon candles you can get your hands on, and have your favorite wool socks on your feet. Never mind that it's still 70 degrees out. That doesn't matter when we've finally reached this date on the calendar. It's officially sweater weather time!
You better have cleared this afternoon's schedule, because you'll be knee-deep in knits and cardigans soon enough. You've been dreaming of this moment since August.
2. Remembering Just How Much Room Sweaters Take Up
Hmm. You stand in front of your closet with your hands on your hips, looking slightly confused at the five plastic boxes of sweaters you lugged out from the storage room downstairs. You forgot how much... bulk these guys have. You look back at your closet, slightly doubtfully. Exactly how are you going to get all of that in there? Surely you'd need another room to fit all this in. And more importantly, just how did you manage to do it last year?
What is this black magic you forgot about?
3. Feeling Blissed Out With All The Coziness
Oh my God: That first finger brush with cashmere. Or that moment you slip your arm into the first sleeve of the season. Pure, cuddly, cozy bliss. You instantly want to dive under a fleece blanket next to a fireplace and begin sipping on pumpkin spice lattes. Just rub that fleecy goodness all over your face. Goodbye popsicle sticks and sandy toes, I'm so over you.
4. Finding Some Questionable Pieces From Last Season
As you begin unpacking, you're met face to face with some... poor decisions from last year. We all get swept away with trends, and sometimes you veer a little away from your style in order to go play. For example, you had this whole "Grandpa Sweater" thing going on in 2014. Not to mention the quilt-like patchwork ones and the kitschy pattern ones. Maybe you'll just separate those out and stack them in the donate pile.
5. Discovering Some Pieces Have Died While Waiting For You
As you're unpacking, you also realize some poor brave souls have died along the way without you noticing. You find moth holes in your knits and shapeless, lumpy shoulders in wool cardigans. You discover one is pilling like a beast, and another has a worn-in, fuzzy quality to it. Your heart breaks a little as you see your donate pile grow. Your sweet babies.
6. Wanting To Go Pick Pumpkins Immediately
You throw a sweater on just for kicks as you're straightening out this transitional mess, and it's like magic. You immediately want to put on plaid, go pick pumpkins, and swan-dive into a pile of red and gold leaves. Maybe along the way you'll also bake an apple pie and DIY some pumpkin spice candles. The fall spirit has officially fallen upon you.
7. Feeling The Sweater Greed Set In
You've put everything away and are still riding that cozy high, which is why you're starting to get wild ideas over how you need more sweaters. The 27 you currently own aren't nearly enough. Why, you need more fisherman jumpers and cuddly cardigans, not to mention duster cardis and statement sweaters. A girl just can't have too many.
Despite what her closet space says.
Image: Marlen Komar/MessagesOnANapkin
