Forever October

I looked at the front page of the Sunday paper this morning and of all the news in our troubled world, one string of words jumped off the page.  The date.  It’s October 23.  Where did it go?

October is my favorite month of the year.  It brings nearly perfect weather, a crisp dividing line between the steamy, muggy, endless Mississippi summer and the unpredictability of our winter.   It’s my birth month and I celebrate it till the calendar turns to November.  The fish have been biting and I have pictures to prove it. The odometer on my bicycle has clocked at least 200 miles as I’ve rolled along bike paths, parkways and country roads.  I’ve experienced the magic of the Mississippi Delta as cotton is harvested and white fluff – “Delta snow” – sprinkles the sides of the roads. I traveled to the Napa Valley with six friends, sampled world class wines and food and experienced the thrill of the grape harvest.  Our welcome to San Francisco is a story that will be told over and over again for years to come. As we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge the Navy’s precision flying squadron the Blue Angels roared overhead and performed maneuvers over San Francisco Bay.  With a former Navy admiral in our group, we were convinced this incredible display was just for us. I danced to my favorite music in New Orleans and spent a Saturday morning in the French Quarter walking along the mighty Mississippi River.  I walked along the river again, this time on the bluffs of historic Natchez, Mississippi in the shadows of live oaks and antebellum homes. And before ghosts and goblins signal the end of the month, I hope to be riding a four-wheeler on the sandbars of the Mississippi River near Rosedale with one of my dearest friends and eating hot tamales from the famous White Front café around a fire pit. 

October has been a month for full- tilt living.  It’s been a month for living out loud and no wonder I forgot to look at the calendar.  Reflection and writing and blogging will have to wait.  The cypress trees in front of my home are turning bronze, a reminder that the clock is ticking…and I’ve got to get outside and experience the last few glory days of October.  

I’m off to pedal on the historic Natchez Trace Parkway with Jackson Browne singing in my head.  I sing along with him as a plea to my favorite month of the year -- “Oh won’t you stay-ay-ay….just a little bit longer?  Please, please, please say you will.”