1. playtime.

October is my favorite month of the year.

That has a lot to do with the fact that it’s my birthday month (WOOOOO BIRTHDAY MONTH!), but that doesn’t account for it all. Even if I didn’t celebrate my birthday in October, this is a great time of year for me.

It’s time to play.

October is the prettiest month on the calendar. This is the month that fall peaks around here, and I take full advantage. We’ll make time this October, as we always do, to take a walk, in Riverview Park, up at McConnell’s Mill, anywhere. Fall is a rare gift, and we don’t let it go by unnoticed.

We’re getting into the meat of football season. The non-conference games — the ones where we bake in the unrelenting sun and the sneaky September heat — are over. With a little luck, we’ll have sunny days accompanied by cooler temperatures. And we’ll have even better tailgate refreshments — hotter, thicker, spicier, more filling meals; darker, stronger, spicier beer. That’s the kind of stuff I live for.

There’s always more stuff going on outside my little football world, too. This month: Haunted houses? Yep. Concerts? At least a couple. Taking advantage of our weekends that we’re not traveling to Columbus? Oh yes. It’s busy, sure, but it’s the good kind of busy.

There’s something else, too. It’s not as tangible, but it’s very real. It’s the cooler weather, it’s how the air smells. It’s the leaves crunching under my feet. It’s longer nights and sharp temperatures in the morning. This month is good for my soul. I feel refreshed and alive.

There’s plenty of work to do, in the office and at home. And, as usual, not every day is going to be sunshine and rainbows. But I plan on enjoying the hell out of this October, and I plan on sharing it here. I always do National Blog Posting Month in November, the original NaBloPoMo Mo. But when I saw that this month’s theme is Play I knew I couldn’t pass it up.

So. Two months of NaBloPoMo. It sounds daunting, but because I’m starting with my favorite month of the year, I think it’ll be easy.

I think it’ll be a walk in the park.