You sit sweetly between mourning summertime’s eventual end and dreading the inevitability of winter. While you may only be limited to 31 days, I spend September daydreaming about you. October, many poems have been dedicated to you - from Kerouac’s fascination to Eric Whitacre’s symphony piece. You are romanticized and rightly so. In your cool cloudy days and with your decorated trees, you comfort and bring cheerfulness. You offer coziness. With autumn comes optimism.
Most will attest you are their favorite month. Yet you are so humble, October. You do not boast; you are subtle in what makes you great. Morning pitter-patter of rainfall does not discourage on the walk to class; instead, it insinuates a romantic image of drinking coffee near a fire, accompanied by a good book. Your leisure counteracts hectic schedules and endless nights studying. Apple cinnamon tea can remedy the exhaust of spending an entire evening writing papers and studying. In daydreams, you plant images of cider mills, fresh donuts, and hiking in an abundance of colors.
You are too brief. Like summer preceding you, the excitement of your beginning comes with undertones of accepting that soon enough you will end. In short time, you will be a distant memory, October. On snowy and hot days alike, people will yearn for you. Can’t you stay a little longer? Make yourself at home, just as you do with all of us. Let us enjoy the nostalgia a little longer. Sipping hot apple cider is reminiscent of both my childhood and adolescence. You remind me of Halloween with my extended family as a child, nature walks with my dad at Belle Isle in my preschool years, marching band in high school, and new beginnings in college. I await your arrival for almost the entirety of the year; I only wish you would stick around for a little while longer.
Your beginning indicates winter is nearing - a discouraging thought. Soon enough, winter will be here - the longest, most dreaded season. Can you keep the snow and freezing temperatures away just a little while, October? Let us enjoy the outdoors clad in flannels, warming up near a bonfire. Loving you is almost a cliche, marked by sweaters, sugary coffee, and pumpkin-flavored anything. Why not enjoy what makes life sweet? October is only here for so long; we may as well enjoy it.
With October just around the corner, let’s commit to enjoying it without any conviction of being basic or playing into a stereotype. Wear maroons, greys, and dark blues. Spend as much time at coffee shops as you would like, sipping sugary coffee. Read books in a cozy atmosphere. Spend an afternoon at a cider mill; spend another afternoon wandering trails as trees display their decadence. You just may be a show-off, October, in your endless magnificence.
