Every September, it happens.
The leaves haven’t even started changing, the temperatures are still questionable, and somehow everything is already pumpkin-flavored.
Pumpkin coffee, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pancakes and even pumpkin candles. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone announced pumpkin-flavored water.
And yet, every year, we come back for more.
I’ll admit it: I participate. There’s something about walking into a coffee shop and seeing the seasonal menu return that makes fall feel special. Suddenly, I’m reaching for my favorite sweater, making plans for Halloween and finding any excuse to spend an afternoon outside.
But sometimes I wonder: do we actually love pumpkins that much?
Maybe we love what pumpkin represents.
Pumpkin is fall. It’s crisp mornings, changing leaves, cozy nights and Halloween decorations slowly appearing in stores. It’s going to a pumpkin patch with friends, taking pictures you know you’ll look back on later and picking out the pumpkin that somehow feels like the pumpkin.
It’s the little things that make an ordinary day feel seasonal.
I think that’s why we get so excited when pumpkin spice comes back every year. It’s not really about the flavor. It’s about the feeling that comes with it.
There’s something comforting about knowing that, no matter how quickly life seems to move, certain things will come back around. Every year, fall gives us another chance to put on a sweater, drink something warm, watch the leaves change and slow down for a moment.
College can make time feel especially strange. Semesters begin and end before we’re ready. Friends graduate. Routines change. We grow into versions of ourselves we didn’t necessarily expect.
Maybe that’s why I appreciate the little traditions of fall so much.
A pumpkin latte isn’t going to change my life. But that little addition to my coffee selection gives me a reason to notice the season I’m in instead of rushing through it.
So, does everything really need to be pumpkin-flavored?
Probably not.
But maybe that’s not the point.
Maybe we’re not obsessed with pumpkins. Maybe we’re just looking for little reminders to enjoy where we are while we’re here.
And if a pumpkin-spiced latte is what reminds me to slow down and appreciate fall, I’ll happily take it.
Just keep the pumpkin-flavored water away from me.