By Michele D. Baker
October may be my favorite month. In my humble opinion, all the best things happen in October: beer and barbecue festivals, cooler weather, and the best holiday ever, Halloween.
When I was a little girl in the 1970s, my parents were hippies. They wore bell bottoms, loud print shirts with enormous collars, and platform shoes. They believed in organic and farm-to-table four decades before it became cool. (They said things like “cool” and “groovy,” too.) My dad used to dance with me around the orange shag rug in the living room to Crosby Stills and Nash, Gordon Lightfoot, and the Kingston Trio.
My parents bought second-hand furniture because it was environmentally friendly, and we belonged to a food co-op where we got all our fresh fruits and vegetables. My school lunch sandwiches were always on homemade wheat bread and while my brother and I were allowed to drink carbonated canned beverages, they were always the weird off-brand ones with low sugar content and flavored with natural juices and colors.
It goes without saying that we weren’t allowed much sugar: the one exception was Halloween. On Halloween, I could dress all in black as a witch, paint my face green, and beg for candy. My brother and I developed a system: he was usually Superman or Batman – wholesome and popular with parents. I got to play “bad cop” in my witch outfit and cackle from behind a bush – popular with any teenagers who happened to be passing out candy.
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Once home, we dumped our hoard out onto the orange shag rug and sorted it: chocolate in one pile, Sweet Tarts in another pile, jellybeans and gummy candies in a third pile. Luckily, my brother and I had very different tastes in candy: he hates peanut butter, so I got all the Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups, and I am not a fan of “gummy” anything, so that all went in his pile.
As I got older, the fascination with Halloween sort of spread to the entire month of October. Once I was old enough to drink beer, dad introduced me to all his favorites – our German heritage influenced those lessons, and I quickly learned to appreciate the finer festivals (like Oktoberfest).
Today, I am a Bonafide October-lover. I make plans for each day in October, trying to wring out every ounce of wonderful from my favorite month. I pack it full of barbecues with friends, beer dates at the brewery across the street from my house (yes, really!), and I always dress up for Halloween. (I’m still a witch.)
This October, I challenge you to really enjoy all this amazing month has to offer. Find things that remind you of childhood and savor the memories.
Until next time,
