Day 30: Origin Story

Happy October Eve everyone! I can’t believe the best day of the year is tomorrow. 

I drove a lot yesterday and as I was letting my mind wander between appointments I thought about nostalgia and it sparked something. What is my October origin story? When did it become the big orange colored juggernaut that eclipsed all other months? Though I can’t pin point an exact day or year, I know it began before I started kindergarten.

 

If you don’t already know, my family likes to Decorate (yes, with a capital D) for holidays. Granted I now have taken that mania to all new heights, but every budding Martha Stewart has to start somewhere. We kept the boxes of decorations in our rec room on top of the water heater closet. That 6x6 square held all of our decorations for ALL of the holidays. I was always so giddy when mom or dad got out the ladder to take the boxes down. I loved looking at the decorations and watching my mom put them up. It was truly something special. I think my love for October probably started there, because after the long drought of having no decorations for half of July, and all of August and September, October finally rolled around and began things afresh. October meant it was that much closer to Thanksgiving when we went up and saw my grandmother and cousins. Then came Christmas and New Year and before you knew it my birthday. October was like the opening of the gates at a horse racing track. October meant there were months of fun in store.

 

Originally October meant Halloween and that meant candy hauls and a very large orange plastic pumpkin. It meant wearing a costume and getting to stay up late. There were pumpkins to carve and pumpkin guts to play with. It meant that I could listen to my Sounds of Halloween tape and not feel weird about it. Plus it gave my Christmas tape a chance to rest. I’m pretty sure I was the only six year old who rocked out to Bach without her parents forcing her to. It also meant that I got to have my light up spooky mansion in my room. It was the only decoration that lit up inside the house and it was all mine. I watched that thing for hours. If I remember correctly, it didn’t live in my room at first. I think it lived in one of the downstairs windows, but after I snuck it up to my room, it just kinda stayed there.

 

I was in love with October before I ever went to school. But school brought on a whole different kind of October love. I couldn’t wait to start school, and when I finally did I loved it. I loved the homework, I loved the desks, I loved the supplies, I loved recess, I hated nap time, I loved walking to the gym to get hot lunches. School was just plain magical. I hated for it to end each year and I counted the days until it began again. I would nag my mother for weeks about getting school supplies and new clothes, but mostly the school supplies. I still love back to school time. October meant that for at least a month I had been back in school. Routines were being established, friendships had been renewed and life was settling back into a well-worn groove. October meant harvest parties, field trips to the pumpkin patch, the school wide costume day and best of all family fun night. October was like one big party. No one ever stressed out over October. It was just fun.

 

As I grew up, I didn’t lose any of my October enthusiasm. Duh, I’m 40 and still getting giddy over an Arctic Circle square pumpkin kids meal. I started to pay more attention to my costumes. Dad and I planned routes for our candy onslaught, and the decorations got a bit more elaborate because I was old enough to have some input on the purchases. For years and years and years, mom was the only one who was allowed to decorate the house. I could help take the decorations down, and maybe take them out of the box, but that was it. I begged and pleaded to be allowed to put one thing up. But no. It took a long time, but that first time I was allowed to decorate the house myself, I was in heaven, and it happened in October. Now I am the one who does the decorating and won’t let mom touch the boxes.

 

Though I fell in love with Halloween first, I think I started to really appreciate other aspects of October somewhere in high school. I always loved the dark nights, the bats at my window, and the way the leaves changed, but I don’t think I ever equated them with October until later. I could sit for hours and look out my bedroom window at the rain coming down on the jewel colored leaves. I would lay awake at night and watch the wind whip the skinny black tree branches against my window. October just felt different than the other months. It felt cozy. It felt slower. It was like a month out of time.

 

In high school, I finally had to stop trick or treating, but that fun was replaced with Friday night football games. The lights of the stadium on a cold October night with the sounds of high school football can’t be beat. I know I’ve said it before, but it really is magical. When I went off to college, I brought my love of October with me. I decorated my desk in the student government offices. I bedazzled my dorm room. And I met Kristen who introduced me to October Thoughts. After graduation I found the joy that is group apple cider making and graduated to Pumpkin Spice Lattes and scones. Moving to the country I added corn mazes and farmers markets to my list of October loves.

 

Now I can buy my own pumpkins, order my own costumes, and write my own Thoughts. Every year I am more and more blessed by what this wonderful month has to offer. Sure, bad things do happen. This year mom was in the hospital. One year I got mono and missed all the fun. Six years  ago or more we had the house fire.  One year we didn’t decorate at all because we had moved. More often than not though, October shows me something great. I see more miracles and wonder in October than any other month. For every negative, there are at least five positives if not more that cancel it out. Surprises are the rule and not the exception in October. There are little stolen moments, tiny kindnesses, and grand gestures. For thirty-one days I get to revel in the beauty and magic, peace and plenty that is October. I never realized how much it plays a part in my life.

 

It is interesting to read back over what I wrote and see how my love for October has changed and grown throughout the years. It started off as a means to get vast amounts of candy and now it is still about the candy, but it is also about reflection, slowing down and giving back. I don’t think little me would ever have imagined how big October could become. It is easy to dismiss someone who likes October as a silly person who never grew up or is just plain odd. (Both descriptors do fit me, ha ha, beat ya to it, but that’s not the point) Yes, I like costumes and flashlights with pumpkin heads on them. I buy candy corn with no intent to share it with small children. I decorate like crazy, have scare movie marathons, buy ridiculous amounts of October scented things, and own way too many holiday themed socks. But I don’t care. I love October. I love how I feel in October and that is enough for me.

 

What is your October origin story?