Fall | …And Everything in Between…

October! The month of scary things. Monsters, Ghosts, Ghouls, Zombies, Witches… the list goes on an on. It’s my favorite month. It’s when the weather begins to cool down and fall makes it’s presence known. I live in Southern California (many of you screaming “You Have NO Seasons!!”) Yes, we do… the temperature changes, we have trees like oaks and elms and the leaves change colors and fall off. Just because it doesn’t snow, doesn’t mean we don’t have seasons, but I digress, I love the autumn!! it’s when you can smell the fireplaces kicking on, candy is in abundance and of course… Halloween!!

The first of the month starts off with 31 Days of Halloween. What is that? That is a scary movie every day. Find a Channel: SyFy, AMC, TNT, Chiller… They are showing scary movies, documentaries, TV Shows. It Halloween my favorite holiday. Well, it’s one of them. The other is Christmas. But I love them the same. The nostalgia and the joy they both bring are like nourishment for my soul.

As I write this, Friday the 13th is on. A massive marathon of the terror known as Jason Vorhees. Well, the whole Vorhees clan really… The original Friday the 13th came out in 1980. I remember because I was 12. And I was at horse Camp, for two weeks. Well, one of the girls in my unit, her family came and she left for the day. When she returned, We learned about everything that happened in Friday the 13th. Why? Well, mom and dad had taken her and her brother and sister to see it. I heard the entire movie before I ever saw it… and I was in love. We sat around her listening intently as she described every minute of the movie. It was our campfire tale!! I have always been attracted to horror and scary, still am to this day. I look for well written or beautifully executed frights. They are harder to find nowadays. but we do find them on occasion. Well, movies… I find some amazing new horror authors all the time.

Well, here you are, October and I’m so glad to see you!! Let’s have some fun!!

So, Saturday I head off to Hollywood to meet my girls for lunch as it is a dear friends birthday weekend and her request was lunch at Canter’s (for those who do not know, an amazing deli on Fairfax that has been there for like 70 years plus… my dad used to go there when he was a kid… still DELISH!!!, but I digress…) so we meet there and have a wonderful time. On our way back to the valley, I ask my Bud (one of my Besties) want to stop for Fro Yo (Frozen yogurt for those not in the know), she says YES!! so we do. All is going swimmingly. we get our Fro Yo to go have a lovely conversation with the Fro Yo girls) and we are off, happily chatting about our frozen treats, when I realize I have stepped wrong or my ankle has given out and … I am falling… and I do. Bam! I’m down.

My Bud comes over and see is I’m ok and begins to gather up the belongings I tossed on my way down (the yogurt was superbly packed and sustained no harm – Kudos to you, Fro Yo Girl), I managed to avoid serious harm, but didn’t twist quickly enough and land on my leg just below my knee, little rash and some numbness, but over all, I’m ok. But wait, because now is when the real excitement begins… as I was falling, an elderly couple were quietly eating their Fro Yo, and as I began my descent, the woman SCREAMED… not yelled, screamed. I was actually quite calm, a simple “Oh, shit…” and I was on my way. So I, and everyone else, hear the scream and as I rolled over, the little old man, quite earnestly concerned hovered over me, trying to assess the situation. The little old woman ran into the Fro Yo Store and got the Fro Yo girls. I’m sitting up gathering my self together, explaining to the little old man that I’m fine, when out pops the Fro Yo Girls with phone in hand. “Should I call 911?” she asks. I respond.” Nooooooo, please dont’ call 911… really… I’m fine… I just fell down. I do it a lot… I’m good.” After several minutes, I convince all of them that I actually am fine and they disperse and my Bud looks down at me smiling. I congratulate her for gathering all the spilled items from her “Bud Down” and we laugh, when around the corner comes these two guys… “Oh My God!! What happened are you all right?” I explain I am fine and they take off… all the while I’m thinking… day late, dollar short, Dudes, but thanks for stopping. My Bud helps me up and we are off.

Why tell this story? Well, I was telling some friends a few days ago and although it is humorous, I realized that I have fallen quite a bit in my life. Granted I’ve been around for a while, but I have probably fallen more than most. So much so that I’m unusually good at it. I occasionally get bruised, but mostly I don’t. Then I realized how often we fall in other ways. Setbacks and procrastination and disappointment and losing and missing and all the ways we fall down. We all do. But, the most important thing is we get back up. Just like falling down physically, we need to get back up and try again. Move forward and get on with things.

For those of us who write, we may spend time away from the page. We get distracted or the words won’t come or the characters are silent or the stress of life interferes, but we eventually sit down and get back to work. We all need to do this with all aspects of our lives. Getting back on track and pursuing what makes up happy, what makes us fulfilled, despite the “pain” or whatever else we are feeling. Just make sure you get back up and walk it off and get back to business. You’ll feel better once you do… and of course, if you encounter the lovely ladies we had, your Fro Yo will be intact to enjoy later that day!!