Day 5: October Nostalgia

I spend a lot of time talking at you telling you what I think the best parts of October are. I like leaves, pumpkins, zombies, scary movies, socks, bats, cider, pumpkins, corn mazes, monsters, holiday breakfast cereals, did I mention pumpkins, etc...The list could go on and on.  I have no shortage of things to say. But yesterday, as I was contemplating quiet country roads it occurred to me, I don't know why any of you like October. It is wonderful to find kindred souls on this month long journey. I love sharing my memories, activities and joys, but I would like to know some of yours. What makes October so special for you? What is a favorite October memory? What is a tradition that you have that only happens in October? Do you like the scary and the beautiful, or just the leaves? Do you like the dark and the howl of the black cat, or do you much prefer a cozy blanket and a cup of cider by the fire? I really want to know.

But it wouldn't be fair if I didn't share something, so I will still go first. This isn't my favorite thing about October, I don't think I have just one, but this is the one that floated to the top today.

I am comforted by nostalgia and that is what October is for me. I get misty when I take out my decorations for the season for the first time. I see each of them and they are more than just a trinket, they are a memory portal. I see a broken snow globe with a skull in the middle and bits of black snow stuck to it and I am instantly transported to the warehouse job that I worked one summer. I remember finding the globe and gleefully putting it aside so that I could buy it when payday came around. I also remember quite a few years later when it slipped out of my hands and broke making an awful mess on the floor. I remember being really sad, awfully frustrated and then I remember deciding that I would not throw it away; I would instead turn it into a new decoration. I kept it for many more years after that until the knuckle bones started to break and I finally had to give it the old heave ho because it really did look like trash. I still look for it when I go through my décor every year. Maybe this will be the year that it magically reappears. It hasn’t so far, but thinking of it and the memories it conjures up makes me happy.

I look at past October Thoughts and relive the fun and wonder. I am reminded of the kindness of friends and strangers, the beauty that is all around and what I was fixated on that particular year. It is fun to walk around in my own memories. It is comforting that somewhere in cyberspace, even if my own memory fades, past Octobers will live on for posterity. That is unless I break the internet. Which could happen.

I love the possibility of what will be. Towards the end of September and possibly other earlier months I am loosely plotting and planning my October list. What will I watch, read or do? What new adventures can I take? What old traditions must be upheld? Then when October is over, I look back and see how this year measured up. Was it an October to remember, or one that should best be forgotten? I spend November first giving thanks for the October that was and the October that will come again. I say thank you for the changing of the seasons and realize that winter will soon arrive with its snowy cloak.

But not today. Today I still have a bunch of October left and I am determined to experience every bit of it that I can. So, hid your pumpkins, put out the good candelabras and let’s take this glorious October adventure together......

Ok, your turn ;)