Oh October!

 

How I love October! I love the cool mornings and the bright afternoons. I love the sounds of the honking of the geese as they fly overhead. I love walking each day hoping to spot a leaf changing color. I found one yesterday hidden in the branches of one of the trees at the back.

 

It made me happy to know that soon this tree will be filled with red, yellow and orange. I feel so thankful to have made it to another October. One of the things I have been doing this year, as I turn my calendar, I grab my copy of The Book of Still Meadow by Gladys Tabor and in the late afternoon I grab a cup of coffee and my favorite chair and read a chapter for what month it is, each month reading this book, I am reminded that each month has its own gifts to cherish and hold in my hand. How ever fleeting it might be.

 

This month she writes, " The special gift of frosty gold days comes now; time to lay down the household tasks and shut the door on routine. For every October, when I see the trees over the meadow, I think, "I shall not look upon her like again,." And every October is different, strange with new beauty."

 

In October, the ghosts in my mind come walking into my thoughts. Every where I see them beckoning me to come and return to the past where my grand mother stands burning leaves in the afternoons as the sunlight sifts down through the trees. Or getting off the school bus, and running in her back door to the smell of yeast and cinnamon and sitting down in her kitchen while she serves a hot cinnamon roll with a cold glass of milk. She stands at the sink in her apron tied around her waist and wants to know about my day. She listens and all around me is love.

 

One of my favorite ghosts as my own small children would rake the leaves into piles and spend the afternoon running and jumping into the piles of jewels out in the yard. They were always barefoot and their feet would get pink from the cold. They would have coats on and my next door neighbor would come to the door about them not wearing shoes. Every October. He didn't understand, in order to get a good hold when climbing trees you must use your toes. I would smile and I would listen as he complained. He was nice though, he always left Tootsie Roll Pops on the fence for them to find.

Such is October, filled with memories, like leaves that fall to the ground to make way for the new leaves in the spring. Each day a gift that passes too quickly to the brown days of November. I know each day I wake up, I find that every day in October, is too short to waste.

Have a lovely Thursday,
~Kim~