Some years, I’ve struggled to get words for October organized and onto the page. It’s been especially difficult the last few years as I’ve been working a full-time day job and taking classes three or four nights a week.

At times, I’ve felt like I’ve missed the very best of October because nearly every minute of my time was scheduled, spare moments were spent on homework or mundane things like laundry and I didn’t really have the chance to go out and see or do all the October-y things I write about.

Not this year. This will go down in the books as a full immersion October.

October this year, for me anyway, started in the middle of September with a trip to the pumpkin patch. What a wacky day that was: pouring down rain, lost in the corn maze and what do we hear? The unmistakable sound of a chainsaw. It only got better from there.

I’ve been out and about collecting (and consuming) samples of some really fantastic ciders and I’ve been lucky enough to have a day in wine country actually participating in the winemaking process. I think I ate an entire apple cake.

I’ve participated in gatherings of new friends and old, many fueled by the comfort foods of fall and those dark, heavy beers that I’ve grown to like over the years.

I spent some time at the stadium at my high school, a homecoming of sorts, and at Jeld-Wen Field. I went to a costume party, was totally freaked out by a haunting in a decidedly non-haunted place and am spending at least part of Halloween night in a graveyard.

Full. Immersion. October.

It has been said before and it will, no doubt, be said again: Halloween is that time at which the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. The transition from summer to harvest to barren field is nearly complete and we confront the mystery of our own mortality.

I consider myself lucky in that I count among my friends those from a multitude of faiths. Today, tonight and for the next few days, they will collectively celebrate All Hallow’s Eve, Samhain, All Saints Day and el Dia de Los Muertos; very different faith traditions all honoring similar themes.

Me, I will remember those who have gone before us and I will celebrate those who are still with us. And I will offer a prayer of thanks for all each of you has given me.

Thanks again for following along and indulging me and my October habit.

Happy October.

If you came in just for October, the blog will continue but certainly won’t be updated nearly as often.