The Great Hampton Roads Delusion
September has arrived in Hampton Roads, which means fall is here.
That is, of course, completely false.
But we have all agreed to participate in the delusion.
The Halloween decorations are up. Pumpkin spice has infiltrated every beverage, candle and baked good within a 50-mile radius. Someone has already purchased decorative gourds. And the second the morning temperature dips below 70, half of Hampton Roads comes flying out of the house in sweaters.
By noon, those sweaters are tied around our waists and we are sweating in 88-degree humidity.
The next morning? Sweater again. We learn nothing.
Photo Credit: unsplash.com/debby hudson
September Is Basically a Costume
There is a very specific kind of optimism required to live in Hampton Roads in September.
You check the weather at 7 a.m. and see 68 degrees. Perfect. Fall has arrived. You grab the cardigan. Maybe order the hot coffee instead of iced.
Then you walk outside at lunch and immediately realize you have made several mistakes.
This month exists somewhere between what the calendar says, what we desperately want, and what the weather is actually doing.
And somehow, we love it.
Maybe because September feels like permission to switch things up, even when Mother Nature refuses to cooperate.
School is back. Football is back. Calendars fill up again. Summer Fridays and vacation schedules disappear. The roads get busier, routines shift and suddenly that commute you had figured out in July is not behaving the same way anymore.
That part, unfortunately, is not a delusion.
Your Summer Commute Has Left the Chat
If you commute in Hampton Roads, September has a way of reminding you just how many moving parts are involved in getting from Point A to Point B.
School buses reappear. Drop-off lines back up. More people are heading into offices. Construction is still constructioning. And your favorite route can go from perfectly reasonable to absolutely not with very little warning.
Which makes September a surprisingly good time to question the routine.
Not overhaul your entire life. Not sell your car and announce that you now travel exclusively by bicycle (but let’s be so for real - we would LOVE that).
Just question it.
Could you carpool with the coworker who lives 10 minutes away? Is there one day a week when transit makes sense? Could you shift your arrival time enough to miss the worst traffic? Is that three-mile Saturday errand actually bikeable?
Sometimes the best commuter solutions are not dramatic. They are tiny adjustments that make one annoying trip a little less annoying.
And unlike our annual insistence that 78 degrees is “sweater weather,” those adjustments might actually work.
Photo Credit: unsplash.com/ayadi ghaith
Fall-ish Is Good Enough
That is really the beauty of September around here.
Nothing has fully changed yet, but everything feels like it might.
So go ahead. Put the ghostie on the porch. Buy the cinnamon candle. Order the pumpkin drink while wearing shorts because you had to abandon the sweater in the car at 11:47 a.m.
And while you are changing everything else over for the season, take a look at your commute.
goCommute services can help you find carpool matches, explore transportation options and figure out whether there is another way to make a trip you are already taking.
No complete lifestyle transformation required.
Because September in Hampton Roads is not really about becoming a different person.
It is about pretending fall is here until eventually, sometime around November, we turn out to be right.