Bye Bye Birthday Month

Here it is - the first day of October - no more Birthday Thoughts for me till next year. But what a month it's been - so packed and full and stressed and loaded with joy it feels like it's lasted for 2 months. In fact, it's been SUCH a busy month it's worth a bit of recap or I might forget what all's happened. 

("what all" - a Southern Expression meaning both something and everything - colloquial,  quaint, bordering on slang) 

We began September with a hot Labor Day weekend that included swimming and beloved cousins and laughter. This came after a horrendous week for me at work; going live with new software, and at home; bidding goodbye to our beloved Labrador retriever Jack. I still haven't paid tribute to Jack yet .. though I will this month. He deserves to be remembered with words as well as inside my heart. I blame this remiss on the madness that has been September. 

The software switch was really much harder than I'd expected and there were also Bad Library Patrons in the first 2 weeks of the month. I wanted to spank them all soundly and send them to bed without their supper till I heard the president's speech on 9/10 and realized that - OF COURSE everyone was cranked to the max. They were caught in the double bind of remembering 9/11 with horror and swallowing the fear generated by a threatened confrontation with Syria over nerve gas. Umm. Yeah-Uh. No wonder everyone was anxious and grouchy and rude and ready to snap heads off. 

The very morning after that speech I sat my staff down and told them to look at grouchy library patrons with compassion, because we're all living with a little bit more fear these days. And I asked them, For Goodness Sake!, Please don't watch the news for the rest of the week! 

We also had More Software and Hardware training making this the most Technological Time I can remember at the library and while I like technology - I am not a Geek. I'm done with it. Time for this to get easy. 

There were other sweet but challenging times this month - a visit to S.C. to see #1 son (only son, actually, but still #1). We took Callie along and she proved to be a very good traveler. Of course I don't approve of taking dogs to other people's homes ... but hey - do as I say, not as I do. LOL. And then, of course, there was TheBirthday - with Birthday Food - and New Puppy Love - and a weight gain that pushed me .6 lbs over the WW limit. Gulp. 

And then the Library convention in my favorite shopping town (you wonder why I love this convention so much? Bwa ha haaaa) And the convention food of course. From which I worked very hard to assess and select only the nutritious and only slipped up once. 

And there was shopping. And there are shoes! 

And there was this past weekend with more beloved cousins and cousin dog too.  We traipsed off across the fields with all the dogs - in the gentle evening sunset. And there was talk. And food. And wine. And music. And flat out glorious loving. A magical weekend full of so much love. 

and so. 

And so September came to an end. October is here, risen over the horizon with it's planned and surprise elements, full of the richness of warm colors and delicious smells and, if we are lucky, rain. It's the autumn and it's time to pull out sweaters and favorite novels that make me feel loved and cozy. It's time for a knitting project. It's time for that first fire in the stove. It's time to start making plans and lists for the holidays. And it's surely time to decide how I am going to stay at goal through the minefield of food events that lie ahead. 

Yes. There's nothing like October to start Making Plans!