“I think October is a month of reminiscing,” a friend of mine said yesterday after we shared some laughter over memories of a backpacking trip I had taken across western Europe. I wasn’t sure how the topic had come up and said so.
“There is something about this time of year that leads us to sit back and remember. I don’t know what it is, but I do believe that.”
I think she is right. Perhaps the October tendency to muse out loud has to do with our agrarian past. After the harvest had been gathered and winter cold was yet to come, our ancestors could savor the fruits of their hard work.
Then there are smells. They can transport us in an instant to an experience from the past, Fall air carries its own set: decaying plants, fallen leaves, and smoke from burning wood; sweet aromas of apples, hot chocolate, and cider; the smell of new books, packed lunches, and newly sharpened pencils.
Or could the tilt of the earth and its path around our fiery star that bathe everything in autumn’s softer light encourage our eyes to linger and our thoughts to wander?
Maybe the clear, dark skies that show off stars and the bright, white moon at night make those who gaze into it thoughtful as they become aware again of their small footprint in the vastness of creation.
Even in a world far removed from one in which people used position of heavenly bodies rather than digital readouts to tell the time and order their days, nature’s deep, enduring power seeps through barriers of glass and steel, and overloaded schedules. It stirs our souls and sends memories floating to consciousness.
October is a delicious time to savor. And that reminds me of making pies from butternut squash we grew in the garden instead of pumpkin that comes in a can.
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