Inside Looking Out: September something
The ninth month of the year gets a bad rap.
Why is it that these 30 days come and go without the fanfare of June or the colors of October or the magic of December or even the winter wonderland of January?
If you are a regular reader of my columns then you know how my mind can play around with an idea. I’m going to give September a voice in a conversation with its sister month, October. November will jump in with a word or two as well.
SEPT: What do you mean I’m not a nice month? Right away I bring everyone the Labor Day holiday.
OCT: Exactly! Nobody likes Labor Day. It’s the unofficial end of summer. It’s the last burger and dog on the grill. You’re depressing.
SEPT: Why? I have twice as many summer dates than June does. And then I announce the beginning of fall. I am the autumnal equinox.
OCT: You’re just a formality. Nothing happens that day. Everything still is as is — your very tired summer days make people wait impatiently for me. By the way, were you going to mention you’re the number one month for hurricanes?
SEPT: Yeah, but on the 14th of me is the harvest moon.
OCT: Who cares? People wait for my fall foliage. I’m filled with crisp mornings and cool afternoons. The sun reflects off leaves of orange, yellow and red. I have hay rides and pumpkin picking and corn mazes. Everybody loves me.
SEPT: But everybody loves me, too!
OCT: Are you kidding? When you roll around every year, a collective sadness in all the children spreads like a plague across the entire country.
SEPT: No way!
OCT: School begins. They hate you, but ALL the kids love me.
SEPT: And why is that?
OCT: Halloween!
SEPT: Oh yeah! Well now, the smartest people are born during my 30 days. You can look it up!
OCT: Blah. Blah Blah. Oh, I forgot to mention Columbus Day. America was discovered in MY month.
SEPT: Well that’s been proven wrong. The Vikings sailed here first.
OCT: Well now. Leif Erickson Day is on the ninth day of ME. And YOU will always be remembered for 9/11, the worst day that ever happened in our country.
SEPT: That’s a fact that has scarred me for life.
OCT: And you only have 30 days. Couldn’t squeeze another one in?
SEPT: Yeah, but I do have some very important people born during me.
OCT: Like whom?
SEPT: Queen Elizabeth I for one.
OCT: Who cares? I have the best tasting apples during me.
SEPT: And that’s ME, too!
NOV: Listen you two calendar cuckoo birds. Remember what Ralph Waldo Emerson said.
SEPT and OCT: Who? What?
NOV: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
OCT: I don’t think he was talking about months.
SEPT: Doesn’t matter. It still makes sense to me.
NOV: And for the record, apples taste great in every month that ends in an “r” and that includes me!
In September. you might wear sweaters or you might wear summer shorts. After you watch the sun set one minute earlier each evening, then you can listen to the katydids sing all night. Football season swings into action. New TV shows replace the repeats.
Yet, “30 days hath September” seem to come and go with a lingering dislike from the school children, the painful memory of 9/11 and that’s about it.
Yet some people have made notable remarks about this month.
“But when fall comes, kicking summer out on its treacherous butt as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September, it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed. It settles in the way an old friend will settle into your favorite chair and take out his pipe and light it and then fill the afternoon with stories of places he has been and things he has done since last he saw you.” — Stephen King from “Salem’s Lot”
“Ah, September! You are the doorway to the season that awakens my soul … but I must confess that I love you only because you are a prelude to my beloved October.” ―Peggy Toney Horton, author.
“Tonight I miss you like the sky misses his moon; a delicate epiphany growing on grass. I serenade the breeze into dancing a cha cha cha; the mountains echo in the background. September sky never looked more charming; or the sublime petals of the rose looked so graceful.” ―Avijeet Das, author of “The Untold Diaries.”
“I used to love September, but now it just rhymes with remember.” ―Dominic Riccitello, author and poet.
September seems to pass by so quickly. Like so much of life itself, we ignore the passing of time. Perhaps we need to grab each September day and explore the unique possibilities that it offers us.
Let’s not forget 9/11. Take a moment to reflect upon the American lives and courageous heroes we lost that day.
Enjoy September’s warm afternoons. Go for walks in the woods. When the nights are cool, sit by a fireplace. Bask in the glow and raise a toast to kiss another summer goodbye.
Wrap September around you like a favorite blanket made by your grandma. Then wait for the October foliage to paint the countryside in brilliant color.
Neil Diamond sings a love song titled “September Morn.” He sings about a lost love which also personifies this fleeting month.
“Stay for just a while. Stay and let me look at you, It’s been so long, I hardly knew you. Standing in the door.”
And here’s a happy birthday wish to all of you smarties born in September!
Rich Strack can be reached at katehep11@gmail.com.
