un-ugly october

When I was young, I resented having a birthday in October. The month carried a sense of lifelessness; probably most apparent when I flipped to the month in any calendar. October, inevitably, has the most ugly picture of the 12 months.

For quite some time I day-dreamed about having my birthday on the colorful calendar pages of June, or under the snowpacked mountains of January. But, apparently, as I soon learned, you cannot will the month of your birthday to change; like you can't move the hands of a clock forward to make time go faster (I tried that, too, when I was about 5 and wanted to watch Mr. Rogers at 4:45, rather than at 5pm). So, I was stuck with ugly October.

My only consolation for awhile was that I had many friends who were also born in the ugly month. I appreciated my company!

As in all of life, there is a redemptive end to this story. I enjoy October now. It's the middle of autumn. When I was younger, I was not so aware of the seasonal changes, whereas now, October is a time of year where the air and the trees sigh with relief from the summer heat. There is change lingering in sky as cooler air removes the stagnant gunk of summer. I like the smells of fresh (almost frosty) morning air with a hint of dry leaves, the changing colors of the deciduous trees, and sometimes seeing my breath when I'm out running.

While the calendar pages typically remain the most mundane of the year, un-ugly october is now one of my favorite times of the year and a fantastic month for a birthday; the changing of seasons for the changing of years.