Yes, that's right, October is much more than Halloween. Yeah, I said it. It's at the end of the month, people. Just wait a moment for it, for goodness sake...
And yes, a month can be a color. If it can be an over-commercialized holiday, it can be a color...
Don't believe me? Just take a look around - take a look at all the trees. Watch them slowly change their colors from the green to the yellow to the orange, and then to the red or brown. Look at the leaves falling off the branches, lightly dusting the ground. See how they brighten the cold gray concrete canvas with splashes of leafy pigment. Some trees change faster than others; I see trees around campus all the time at different stages of change. Some have just started to turn colors, some are nearly done, and there's this one tree that's almost bare.
It's not just seen, October; it's also felt, smelled, even tasted. It's a full sensory experience needing to be taken in, needing to be savored. It's the gentle nip of the breeze, reminding you to put on a sweater before you go out to class. It's the warm spices swirling and permeating the air as it's mulling in your cider or latte. It's the taste of pumpkin in literally everything - including that aforementioned latte - and the earthy flavor notes from the fallen leaves gently tumbling o'er the sidewalk that you delightfully crunch underfoot on your way to class, entwining with the taste of petrichor in the air from last night's rainfall.
October is when the colors are at their peak vibrancy before they depart for winter. It's the apex of autumn, the season of change. It's that sweet spot, that tipping point before major change starts to happen, that decision that determines what comes next - winter. It's right before the winds start to bite and the air starts to dry, taking the sweet scent of the summer greenness away, replacing it with brown. It's right before the rains turn colder than ever, and eventually into snow that blankets the dormant landscape. It's right before all color goes away and turns into a dull wash of white and gray; when beauty takes her final bow before the descent into winter.
Even people can have their own personal October - those moments we sometimes experience before something big, something major happens? When we know something's coming, and in surges a moment of change that leaves you not quite the same afterward. But you carry on, a little bit different, but ready to take on the next season of your life. That's an October.
Halloween's just a day at the end of such a glorious month; take some time to truly enjoy what October is. It's change, and change in of itself is beautiful. Appreciate the visual change in season, and in turn, the change in others and perhaps even yourself. And of course, appreciate a seasonal hot beverage while it's around. For nothing lasts forever; everything has to go through October at some point. Enjoy the moment while it lasts.
Inspiration for this article: "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost; "People have an October as well" by JmStorm; the UWSP campus at the moment.
