Jack Ryan's Journey: Octobers


Photo credit: http://dearfriendblog.com/2012/10/octobers/

I’m sure if you asked any of you, you have a favorite month. I do. I love October. It has always been one of my favorite months. I love the sweatshirt and jeans “football” weather (must be the former cheerleader in me!). I love that this month is the start of many celebratory months…Thanksgiving in November, Christmas in December, the New Year and then my birthday in February! I love Halloween costumes and décor. My friends and I even dressed up as we got older, renting a bus or trolley to take us around town in our creative costumes. One year, I was Chef Boyardee and handed out real pizza. A few years before that, a group of us were dressed as people from the Publisher’s Clearinghouse, complete with a big check and a surprised winner in her bathrobe and curlers! And I can forget the treats…I love candy corn. I especially love big, round, orange pumpkins! Although, I should admit that I’m partial to those mini “Jack B’ Little” pumpkins these days too! Many have a specific image or item that is symbolic for them, that gives them hope or inspiration, be it a rainbow or a butterfly. It may sound strange, but a pumpkin is that symbol for me.

Our pumpkin, growing and maturing, just like Jack.

October 2009, I placed a large pumpkin on our front porch and he stayed there through November. By December, he was started to disintegrate, so I pushed him off the porch into our flower bed. Yep, pumpkin parts and flower seeds everywhere! Hubby wasn’t too happy, but I was secretly hoping for my very own pumpkin patch. Jeff made an attempt to remove all the seeds, but little did I know that one little seed pulled through and began to sprout. He had survived the harsh snows of February and March, the same time I became pregnant with Jack…whose due date was October 28. I was super excited for an October baby…my favorite month. He would be my little pumpkin! As it turns out, Jack would be a summer boy (which suits him well), instead of a pumpkin…yet, that little pumpkin had just started growing and maturing in our front flower bed just as he was born.

Jack's first October, in the NICU, a sign from his nurses, and my germaphobe costume that year (2010).

Jack would do the same growing and maturing in a less nurturing environment, the NICU, which made October just a little bittersweet for our family. Especially after Jack passed his due date in the NICU and stayed even 4 weeks longer. So, while Jack’s birthday remains in August, I will always think of October as his “developmental” or “milestone” birthday. I try not to get to stressed about missed milestones, unless they are truly missed by October.

Jack's 2nd October, at HOME (2012).

Each year, those October memories remain, but the sadness and uncertainty have surely begun to fade and the month of October brings new memories to be made. More pumpkins to give hope. More candy corn to eat! Yep, October is still my favorite month. And any October with Jack in it is one to celebrate.