Day 9: October the Everything Month

On the way home last night I got to drive through some amazing scenery. The sun was going down behind me and the sky was a brilliant shade of rainbow sherbet. There were the most vibrant oranges, pinks and yellows lighting up the sky, it looked like stained glass in a cathedral. In some areas there was heavy cloud cover trying to obscure the radiance but it simply could not be contained and golden rays punched through and shone down on the fields. In front of me the sky was angry and dark like a bruise, all deep purples, blacks and blues, an inky menace that just dared me to keep moving forward. The wind was whipping the topsoil off the fields and into the roadways. The clouds churned and if I had been in a horror story I would have been driving towards certain doom for sure.

As I was rolling along I got to thinking about how this juxtaposition was a perfect way to classify October; here I was in my nice warm car, while outside it was cold, windy and miserable. One side of the sky was beauty and the other a beast. October is both cozy and creepy, scary and sublime. It just can’t seem to make up its mind what it wants to be, so like the Ariana Grande song says “They say, "Which one?" I say, "Nah, I want all of 'em" October picks it all.

October is an equal opportunity month, there is something for everyone. The young, the young at heart, the old, those reliving their glory days, those wanting to squeeze the marrow out of life and those who want to go slow. There are scary things, sweet thing, beautiful things, tasty things, farm stands, holiday bazaars, family things, time for individual introspection, outdoor activities, indoor snuggles, football, baseball, hockey, books, movies, songs, cold weather, the last gasp of summer, crisp leaves, October is a party unto itself. I love that the very last day of the month is a celebration. For 31 days we have gotten to say good bye to fall and hello to winter. We have gotten to take a test run for the super holidays to come. October is the no pressure month. If it were a celebrity it would be a laid back Matthew McConaughey saying “alright alright alright.” October lets you be yourself and experience it any way you see fit.

I really wanted to take a picture of the sky so that I could share it with you. I had ample time and space to pull over, but I chose not to. My camera wouldn’t have done it justice and some things don’t need to be captured, the fact that they simply were and we were present to see them is good enough. I hope I can remember the brilliance, but even if I don’t, that’s ok, I know October will have more in store for me.

Note: the pic I included is from Google and it doesn't begin to do justice to what I saw last night, but it is pretty, so that's something. ;)

Day 7: The Joy of October

October to me is pure joy. I don’t know for certain when I really started to identify October with all that is good, (I think it was somewhere between 4^th and 6^th grade) but I know that in this month I am happier than at any other. That doesn’t mean that all is wine and roses in this most special of months, but I simply seem to have a different outlook on life. I’m energized and excited, cheerful, bouncy and an abundance of surprises managed to find their way too me. Yesterday was no exception.

I made up my mind on Friday night that since I had an honest to goodness day off for a change I would capitalize on it and excavate the storage pod that has been holding my decorations hostage for two years. I didn’t know what sort of shape I would find them in, I didn’t know how long it would take, but I would move every last box if it meant that this year all my stuff could be reunited. I really needed a “win” and I was going to manufacture one for myself.

I had visions of being crushed by all my precariously balanced boxes. I dreaded the hours it was going to take. I even dreamed of how I was going to move everything. I made an offhand remark to my roommate about it and when I got up the next morning she said she was ready for me to put her to work. She was going to help me get my stuff. I told her no, it would be really hard work and I appreciated it but it was too much to ask. She wouldn’t take no for an answer and cut to 3 hours later, not only do I have ALL my October décor, but I have all the rest of the holidays too. I can finally decorate again! Now to you that might not be a big thing, but to me it is. I can’t properly convey how wonderful this makes me feel. I was singing as we moved things. I was giggling and laughing and thanking her profusely. It took 4 trips to get it all back to the house, but it was so worth it.

After we got everything settled I put on some of my favorite October films, sat down on the living room floor and started unpacking things. I didn’t get as far with that process as I would have liked because I kept exclaiming over each thing, here was my monster mix-tape; there was my old plastic pumpkin. Over in that box was the dining room table décor that I had been missing. New treasures, old treasures, and as I sit in a glittery, spooky pile of décor I look around and wonder, where the heck is all of this going to go? I am so happy that I don’t think I will even care if this year is tacky. I want everything up. I want to sit in my cozy blanket and relive the memories. I want to feast my eyes for the time I have left of this wonderful month. I want to walk down memory lane, I want to share it with friends, I want to bask in the overabundance of October, and you know what, I’m going to.

 

To add to my decoration joy, tonight was the premier of my favorite zombie show. I got to watch it sitting amidst all my treasures. Then there was the most perfect orangey sunset that I have seen in a while. It must have read yesterday’s Thoughts because it was all different hues of orange and I put the show on pause and watched the splendor of it till the night descended into black. How marvelous. How wonderful, how October. Ok, enough of this, I’m going to go play with my decorations……