Enjoy the joys of October...

When summer ends and fall begins, it’s October.  When the nights grow cold and the leaves begin to change, it’s October. When apples ripen and are pressed into cider, it’s October. Every year, it’s the same, but somehow I never grow tired of it. I look forward to my birthday on the 3^rd and Halloween (and our anniversary) on the 31^st, the two ends of every October. The smell of fallen leaves reminds me of my earliest memories: bundled up, playing outdoors, knowing that a warm house awaited. This year it’s different: most people I know are still in some form of limbo as the pandemic continues, so there was no birthday cake and certainly no blowing out of candles, and Halloween preparations are mostly centered around trying to figure out how to give out candy without the traditional doorway exchanges. But like everything else in our lives, these Covid-related challenges are being creatively overcome.  On Zoom, I could blow out the candles with gusto and nobody was there to worry about it; and families are putting together treat bags that the tricksters can safely pick up and take. None of these are as fun as what we’d normally do, but they’ll do until more can be done. Cut back a little on scheduling so much and encourage your people to get out and enjoy this glorious month. Let’s all be glad there are Octobers today.

 

Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874 – 1942): Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning in 1908 with Anne of Green Gables