October

I love spring. Actually, I love spring in Arizona, USA! The desert is in bloom, the weather is absolute perfection! Spring baseball makes me feel like I'm on an eternal vacation and the flowers dance all day long! When I was at Utah State I remember one spring when the sky seemed so gray still, the snow would fly and melt into a slush puddle and mud seemed to goo onto everything every. day. !! I thought I would die! Where were the flowers? Why weren't the flowers out? I had no idea about spring fever until that spring... and I'm telling you... I had never wanted to see the sun so badly in all my life! I begged the trees to sprout out the buds. And then I did what any psycho college girl would do... I got in my car and I drove 14 hours to Arizona to feel the spring on what I thought was a spring deprived body! And there beheld my eyes, Spring! Buds, baby ducks paddling in the canals, baby birds crying out for food all day long and Flowers! Flowers everywhere! Seriously, I love spring!

I love summer. I love it anywhere in the world! No schedule other than play and swim. Sleeping in! Hot days that seem endless and the ever presence of Sunshine that blazes upon my skin. Beach trips, vacations to see family. Boating at the lake. 4th of July fireworks and parades. So many BBQ's and parties that one seems to join another... Hiking in the mountains. Air conditioning. Lots of time to run as many miles as long as my legs can go. Vegetable gardens! Bless the endless fresh tomatoes, corn on the cob and watermelon! No sickness. Ever! I could live an entire life long in the summer. I am forever in love with summer!

I love Autumn. It is, after all, the best time to be born! I love the vivid reds and yellows and oranges! I love the crispy air. I totally felt like I was in a bit of a story book when I lived in Poland and every day I watched the farmers pile up their remaining food, plow for the next spring and then build big piles of sticks and leaves and burn them! The air constantly smelled chilly and smoky. That smell of American football in the air whisks me back to a very happy childhood when Saturday was filled with college football games with my dad and brothers. I totally love Autumn!

I love the winter. I especially love winter in the mountains in Utah! I love it when there is a pile of snow so deep that you are certain you will never see the frozen ground below it! I love it when the animals come down out of the mountains looking for food. I am smitten by the glistening over the earth of sunshine on the snow. I love curling up by the fire with a mug of hot chocolate. I love making soup for dinner. I totally dig the holidays full of family and time to reflect on the blessings that fill my life and then the celebration of the Savior's birth. I get a huge kick out of a new year, setting new goals and starting a diet that lasts just long enough to drop the 10 pounds that I packed on from the neighbors Christmas goody deliverings. My life is full of good memories from years spent at the family cabin in bear lake where we would snow mobile for days on end through the mountains and over the ice. .. and then come home to late nights with games and movies. I just love winter!

I totally dig October! By October, School is proving to be in full swing. Brains are working hard! By the time October hits, new schedules are followed to perfection again. The good memories of summer are still carrying happy moods and the holidays start. Let's face it! Halloween decorations are the very best! Sometimes, I close my eyes and think of the decoration boxes in the storage unit full of my Halloween decor! it makes me happy! I get so excited when I see the posts of friends who have spiced up their houses with banners and pumpkins galore! While spring brings forth new life to the earth and then summer allows you live it, autumn is a definite reminder of the eminent death and cold that is coming... October is this month for me. I have to make it a point every day to focus on the beautiful fall colors and the smells of crisp air and football games and then pull forth the memories of looking out over endless miles of snow that seems to be powdered with glitter and diamonds... And when I do, the Octobers of my life continue to bless me. I am enamored by October because it reminds me to look forward to what good is to come. I am blessed by October because I can happily reminisce of the many Octobers that I have come through even in short, dark days and chilly weather. And I find a treasure trove of tender mercies when in the darkened short days of October, holidays begin to appear every few weeks. Dear October, I haven't forgotten that I sure do love you!