Hazel October

So I’m up on this Friday morning gettin’ ready to start my day, but I’m a little down. It’s the beginning of October and while I have nothing against the tenth month of the year, it still marks the end of my favorite time of year, the summer. I’m gonna miss the cookouts, warm weather, swimming , and clear heated nights among other things. Now I’m walking to the store a couple blocks away to go do some light shopping and I’m starting to notice something. There’s a new energy in the air. Something vibrant, but different than what I felt over the summer. It catches my drift, but then I quickly brush it off and head inside the store, which greeted me with something unexpected.

I walk into this dollar tree and I’m caught off guard when I see a lot of kids running around the store. I’m also surprised to see a lot of fall season and Halloween decorations littering the store walls and shelves. So now I’m just like “wow”. Of course Halloween seasonal decorations are gonna be the core theme of any shopping center you go to this month, it’s that time of year. The only reason it caught me off guard because it seems like the summer just came and went so fast. In a sense it did fly by, I mean I did have a pretty dope summer and you know what they say, time sure does fly by when you’re having fun. Emotionally I really don’t know how to feel yet. I enjoy the fall season just as much as the next person, but the summer is my favorite time of the year, so I guess you could say that I’m…season sick.

Being the airhead that I am, my slow self forgot to get one of those mini push carts on the way in so now I gotta go back outside and grab one. As I go back to the cart section out front someone catches my eye. She had maroon colored hair, hazel eyes and the most beautiful smile I have ever seen. To my surprise she was looking at me, dead at me. At first I thought I was mistaken and that maybe she was just looking in my direction, but then I looked around and realized there was no one else behind or beside me, so when I looked back at her with a look of surprise I realized I was right the first time, she is looking at me.

When I tell you this cutie was locked in on me, oh she was super fixated and I swear I’m not boosting my head up and lying to make myself sound cool. What I couldn’t understand was why she was so focused on a goofy movie like myself, maybe she’s crazy. So then she starts walking over to me and I can’t believe it. “Hi” she says in a soft voice. “”uh hey!” I respond back nervously. “You must be getting ready for the season” she suggested. “Not really” I began. “I’m just more so season sick because I miss the summer already. Kinda my favorite time of the year.” She shook her head in understanding while looking at me with a peculiar expression on her face. “So you’re not much of a fall person?” She asked. “Well it’s not that I’m not a fall person, it’s just always hard for me to get into because it’s fresh off my favorite season of summer. “Well maybe we can fix that” she suggested while extending a hand to me.

Um, at this point I had no idea what was happening. When I grabbed her by the hand she said “Come on, let’s go for a walk”. With both of us hand in hand we began taking a little stroll around the block. During this slow walk she starts to show me some things. As we walk slowly around the corner I look at houses across the street and see them all decorated up the wazoo with Halloween decorations. They had it all, fake spider webs, them giant witch sticker thingys plastered on every window and of course who can forget the jack-o-lanterns.

As I’m looking at the decorations and everyone enjoying their company it kinda puts a light smile on my face. I remember loving all this as a kid with my family. I don’t know when exactly I stopped enjoying it all so much. I then look back at this beautiful girl standing next to me with Hazel eyes and she’s smiling again. It’s like she knows what I’m thinking and appreciates that I’m thinking these thoughts. As we walk a little further down the block we can see more stores and houses with fall and Halloween decorations up. We can see leaves littering the streets and the sidewalk accompanied by the subtle breeze in the weekend. Yep, I can definitely feel the season of fall in the air.

Something that really caught my attention was the big sign up at the church across the street that said a Fall festival was coming. I almost forgot what those were. My mother and father used to take me and my siblings to them a lot when we were kids. Dang where does the time go? How could I have forgotten about all this? These were some of the best memories of my life growing. The fall season is dope, but in my adulthood I guess it all kinda got away from me. I realized in this moment how much I need this back in my life: the fall festivals, the Halloween decorations, the pre-holiday spirit of the seasonal occasions. This is one of the best things about life to which I need to return.

While the realization of how much I need the fall season is growing back in me, I look to my right and realize that the beautiful girl with the hazel eyes and maroon hair was suddenly gone. Then again I think that was the point. This girl was a spiritual guide for me. One who was meant to teach me a lesson about enjoying the season in front of me. She never told me her name, but that’s okay because she gave me everything else I did need to know. If I had to call her anything, I’d call her Hazel October.