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On October 1st, I sat down with my husband and showed him all of the family gatherings, events, tasks, deadlines, and social engagements on my October calendar. Then I pointed to the empty spaces and explained very clearly that I was NOT going to overload myself this year with October happenings and was determined to protect these vacancies. All the while, he stared at me with that rude, pre-I-told-you-so expression he likes to wear.
It's now October 8th, and I would like to tell you that I have honored my goal of keeping October simple and serene... but I can't because in the past week, I have spontaneously attended an art festival, said yes to two book signings, volunteered to catch and transport two orphaned baby squirrels, and concocted an idea to invite everyone I know over for firepit s'mores sometime soon. (Hubby doesn't know about that last one yet, so shhhhh.)*
Have I failed miserably? Yes. But are all of these GOOD things? Also yes!
Take today, for instance...
This afternoon, I visited the Vanston Middle School library to talk to a class of students and read some spooky stories. I was nervous on the way over because even though I taught seventh grade for nineteen years, doing presentations as an author always feels like the first day of school again. Will the kids like me? Will the technology work? Will I lose my voice?**
But, just like the first day of school, author visits almost always turn out to be so much fun, and this one was no exception. The students at Vanston were awesome-- polite, engaged, and excited to hear about ghosts. They also shared some of their own spooky experiences with me. (One story legit gave me the shivers!)
Although, I think my favorite part of the visit was when I asked them if they knew where Bar Harbor was before reading a story from The Ghostly Tales of Bar Harbor. They didn't, so I gave them the hint that the state starts with an M. Friends, today I found out just how many U.S. states start with the letter M. We went through alllllll of them before getting to Maine. Lol.
My point is that as long as these plans I'm making fill me with joy, I'm going to keep saying yes. We only get one October a year, so I'm going to enjoy mine to its fullest. I can always sleep in November.
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