Many, many, many things loom on the horizon in the month of October for my family and I. This is a personal list containing, in order, my favorite things about the month of October.
5. Playoff Baseball: It’s been a crazy 2020, but baseball somehow managed to survive long enough to get back into the postseason at their normal time. October. It’s been a staple of Major League Baseball forever: The Fall Classic. The playoffs and the World Series. It’s a great month. This year especially. Instead of the normal field of 10, MLB shortened the season and added more playoff teams…16 total now. A move they should make permanent. Tomorrow every team that made the playoffs is in action. Eight games in one day. A beautiful day and a beautiful month. Forget entering the Fall season, the leaves changing color, and all that crap…I’m watching the Twins play the Astros today at 1pm and tomorrow at noon…Surrounded by action everywhere else. Thank you October and thank you baseball.
4. Halloween: Even though we’re not taking our little ones door to door this year, for obvious reasons, halloween remains a staple in the month of October that I enjoy. Oddly I might even be looking forward to it a little more this year. Why? Well, while I was bummed earlier when I realized we wouldn’t be taking the little ones out and about around the neighborhood this year, my wife had the great idea of dressing the kids up anyway, and going door to door in our own house. Different people and new candy at every door. Closets, rooms, office, garage, front, and back doors, etc. The kids will have so much fun doing that I doubt they’ll even notice we’re not outside. Plus the whole month of October is synonymous with halloween, so everyday we walk and ride our bikes around the neighborhood my kids will see all sorts of decorations. Grandparents from both sides of the family have already bought or sent them halloween stuff. From Pajamas and board games to masks and candy. I plan on making October just a fun halloween month for them in general. This way they won’t know or mind missing the three hours of trick-or-treating on October 31st.
3. NFL Hitting It’s Stride: It’s my favorite sport, and every October is crucial for your favorite NFL team. Very fun times. Whether your team has started the season 3-0, 0-3, or somewhere in between, fans of all NFL teams believe they are still firmly in the mix in October. Hell, the Vikings are 0-3 so far this year, with 2 dismal loses under their belt, and because of one competitive game (which they lost) I’m not ready to write them off. Let’s win a few in October and get back into the thick of things here. How ’bout that?
2. The Weather: Call me crazy. But the weather in October is perfect. Let’s get the sweatshirts and pants out, give me the wind (or breeze) and the 40-60 degree temps. Let’s do this. I’ll gladly take the extra five minutes of prep necessary to get the kids ready with an added layer, if it means enjoying the extra hour or two we get outside on the backend. It’s so much more preferable than any 90 degree-plus temperatures that linger in March thru September in the state of Texas. Even growing up in Montana, where October is obviously a lot colder, it’s still refreshing to embrace the initial cold front the month provides. October in the big sky state is usually the first month that gets hit hard with some real winter. I’ve never minded it. I’d much rather be in some fringe winter weather conditions wearing jeans and a hoodie than sporting shorts and t-shirts with the hot summer sun beating down on me.
1. October 4th: One of the best days of the year. Why? October 4th is National Animal Day. October 4th is National Taco Day. October 4th is National Vodka Day. And October 4th is National Golf Day. Shall I go on? Okay, this year it also falls on a football Sunday. So let’s all get together and celebrate via phone, text, twitter, or in person this Sunday. I can guarantee I’ll be partaking in at least 4 of the 5, and hopefully all of the above. I’m guessing for me October 4th will look something like this for me this year: Waking up, grabbing some morning taco’s from Fuzzy’s, coming back home, eating, going outside to play with my dog, then hanging around till the noon hour, turning on the Vikings game, at halftime pulling out some Vodka and mixing it with some diet orange soda, sipping periodically, and after the game—depending on how the rest of the day is lining up—maybe heading out to the golf course or driving range.
So thank you October.
