By: Paul Morrone
October is my favorite month of the year. No, not just because I’m an October birthday, but it has what I feel is the best balance of any month in the year. The anxiety of the back-to-school season is over, the weather is mild and pleasant, daylight savings hasn’t hit yet and the scenery as the leaves change here in New England is always beautiful. There’s a kind of lull to life that allows you to just enjoy the moment that doesn’t exist in some of the other months. You’re not waiting for the weather to break like in spring, waiting for school to end like in summer or waiting for the cold dark days to end like in winter. October hits a sweet spot where you can just be happy in the moment without worrying about what is coming or what just happened. It’s the perfect calm before the storm.
Once November rolls around, holiday planning kicks into high gear and everyone’s stress level starts to rise. It’s dark at 4pm. Days seem tick by faster than before. The countdown to year-end is on. But October is just far enough away from all of that to be enjoyable. Add in the fall activities, the return of football and a trip to Bishops Orchard and its hard to argue that October is at the top of the totem pole.
We’ve done our best to take advantage of the nice weather and used the weekends to do some fun activities with the kids. We spent a day hiking up Sleeping Giant in Hamden, which might have been a bit too ambitious with a 4- and 6-year-old. Ryan liked to be carried more than he liked walking, which made for quite a workout on the 1.5-mile hike. Once we got to the top, however, it was all worth it as the kids were in awe at the ‘castle’ at the top of the hill. A couple of scraped knees and a dozen granola bars later, we had made the round trip and some family memories.
As the nights get cooler and the days get shorter, it is a constant reminder to enjoy the nice days while they last. Here in CT, I’ll hope to sneak in another round or two of golf before putting my clubs away for the winter and enjoy some of the fall foods that never seem to stick around long enough. On the bright side, it’s bourbon season again so even if it gets cold outside, I know I’ll be warm on the inside!
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