As Anne Shirley once said, “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” The month of October and the autumn season are my favorite of the year. The air gets cooler (or there is the promise of cooler air, ha), the leaves put on an amazing show of color, and it’s a countdown to my favorite holiday, Halloween! I truly love this magical time of year.
I don’t remember there ever being a big declaration of love over this month and season, but more of a gradual appreciation turned love turned obsession over the years. Our house growing up was always decorated both inside and out for Halloween. My mom dressed my brother and me up in costumes for Trick or Treat throughout our childhood ever since his infancy (proof included below- baby’s first Halloween).
Some of my favorite childhood memories come from Halloween nights in our old Toledo neighborhood. There was always a fight with my mom to wear a jacket over my costume. Why am I dressed as Catwoman, if no one can SEE my Catwoman costume? My dad would take me and my brother around the streets near our house. We would drop off our buckets of candy and then head to join my cousins and visit the legendary house near our elementary school that gave out cotton candy. It was always the grand finale of a well-earned Trick or Treat night.
I still love to dress up for Halloween. I exchanged Treat or Treat with Halloween parties and other festivities. Even this year at my high age, I have my Halloween costume chosen! The planning of a Halloween costume is just as fun as putting the costume on and getting to be someone else for a night. A few of my favorite costumes over the years have been Lady Luck, Beetlejuice, Ursula from “The Little Mermaid”, and Elphaba from “Wicked”!
Each costume is perfectly curated with DIY and store-bought creativity. I think that is one of the reasons why I love dressing up for Halloween so much, even as an adult. I get to be creative! My goal is always to be more DIY than store-bought. No expensive one size fits all Spirit Halloween costume-in-a-bag for me! I want to go thrifting, Pinteresting, and shopping to find the perfect pieces to encapsulate my unique take on a costume idea.
Beyond dressing up and decorating my house for Halloween, October is also filled with one of nature’s grandest shows- the changing of the leaves! I love that the awe of this phenomenon has not lost its wonder on me. I recently visited Lake Ontario and was greeted with a fall color preview on the drive, and I was captivated by each and every expression of color! I know I won’t lose that wonder as the month progresses- each time I take a drive out and about Detroit or plan a purposeful fall foliage tour, I’ll still be amazed at nature’s beauty each and every time.
Last year I spent an October weekend in Grayling, Michigan and it was such a gorgeous trip! The drive was jaw-dropping spectacular. I visited Hartwick Pines, a place my grandparents took us when we went Up North, as well as The Bluff near our family’s old cabin. (I wrote about my love for Up North in my August musing.) I won’t be able to take a trip up there this year but will do a driving fall foliage tour around Detroit in the coming weeks- probably driving up M25 along Lake Huron, a trip I’ve made a couple of times before in October and it never disappoints!
Beyond Halloween costumes and fall foliage, this season also brings pumpkin patches, apple cider, EVERYTHING pumpkin spice (even things you really don’t want or need to be that flavor), football, longer hours of night, cool air, flannel, and a slowing down after the heat and speed of the summer. I’m not built for humid, hot weather with a busy schedule to soak up every ray of sun in the long days. I want a crispy slow-paced fall day with sunshine and flannel, and to be cozied up under a blanket reading a spooky book by nightfall. Unless it’s Halloween night, of course, then I want to be dressed up and enjoying the festivities!
I really am so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.
