October

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."  --Anne of Green Gables

Early October with its extra-banket nights and still-warm golden days is one of my favorite times of year.  The sky is an impossible blue.  Treetops, backyards, and sidewalks are covered with rich red, cheerful orange, and sunlit yellow leaves.  Apples are crunchy, cider is sweet, and pumpkin spice flavors are everywhere.  Although it's sad to put away shorts and sandals, it's fun to start wearing sweaters and boots again.  The furnace rumbles on from time to time, but there's no snow in the forecast yet (at least not usually!).  But when I woke up this morning, on the first of October, I wasn't thinking about any of these things. Instead, I was feeling sad that Em's weekend visit was over, I was feeling stressed about all the schoolwork ahead of me, and I was feeling worried about Steve's radiation treatments starting at the end of the week.  Although I would like to have pulled the blankets back over my head and gone back to sleep, I got up and got myself ready, and out into the world I went.  And that's when October started to work its magic.  The bright leaves, warm sun, and blue sky banded together and reminded me to look up, not down; to see the good, not the bad; and to be thankful for kids who come home for the weekend, for a job I love, for the technology that exists to make my husband well, and yes, for Octobers.