October is my favorite month of the year. Mother Nature is chaotic, like I often feel. She undergoes dramatic change. She transforms. The first days of October cling to summer’s remnants. But Autumn soon has her way. The lush green turns to bold hues of red, orange and gold. Tropical storms blow the winds of change thru the air. There are warm, sunny days. Nights are cold and so clear that the stars dance above our widened eyes. It’s not unusual to see the season’s first snowflakes. Or to have a final beach day. It’s all so amazingly unpredictable.

By the middle of the month, if you live in New England, the colors are spectacular. If we’re lucky, we still scramble for the last tomatoes and corn of the year. We seek comfort in sweaters, scarves and boots. Night falls early and evenings are perfect for campfires. At the close of the month, we light our walkways with carved pumpkins – their orange-yellow glow often the only bright color that remains…. Their warm, soft candlelight a sign of things to come.

The irony is that all the beauty happens because things are dying. Or, preparing for a long, deep sleep, in many cases. Nature tests our faith. We bemoan the cold, bleak darkness. But we know Spring will come around, her warmth forcing buds on the barren trees, bulbs from the frozen ground. 

It can be unsettling, this metamorphosis. We reluctantly give up our control. Some days, we complain. Some days, we embrace it. Either way, it happens all around us. It’s unpredictably predictable…. And it’s always beautiful.