October is like an old friend. When the calendar closes it’s last hour on September 30th and we turn the page to October 1st, I get a little giddy.

I immediately feel like making soup and wearing cozy socks.

I can’t help it.

I pray to the Lord to somehow let October be a magical cool 68 instead the steady 80 degrees that I know it’s going to be. With very hint of burnt orange, every sighting of rusty colored mums, and even the cheesy signs that say, “It’s Fall Ya’ll!”my pumpkin shaped heart beats a little faster.

I love October. I relish Autumn. I am The Pumpkin Queen. I even have a mug that says so.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving (which is when we get our Christmas tree), I turn back into regular Jen. Well, Regular Jen with a sassy side of Christmas. But now, it’s October 1st. I’m The Pumpkin Queen. In the slightly misquoted words of Mikey from Goonies…. “Down here, it’s my (our) time!” This is my favorite time of year.

My only frustration with October (and November) besides the weather, is that I want to do all my fall stuff, visit all my pumpkin patches and sit and be cozy. This pesky thing called life gets in the way, though. It’s all wonderful stuff, field trips, soccer games, school, co-op, school festivals, etc. Then there’s just the other stuff, laundry, grocery shopping, vacuuming up dog hair for the billionth time.

Instead of slowing down, everything just seems to rev up.

I