The Gifts of October

In the south, we call it Fall. The rest of the world may fancy it up and call it Autumn, but in the South, we are reminded of the short season by the changing of the leaves and their descent from the trees like so many copper parachutes.

October is the transition from boiling heat to winter cold. November is bitter and August is cruel, but October is the gift giver. Miracles are commonplace in my life, I have been blessed with health, children, good horses, great fights, and beautiful women. I have, at times, been at war with the source of the miracles.

You may call it God or the Tao -- finding your own faith is key, I know what I believe. And I have made war of that granter of miracles for a long time. Be careful what you wish for, I asked to change lives and people entered and exited my life with alarming speed, changing as they went. But once I said a prayer, if you will, I said I would stop struggling against my role in the universe if I heard a certain set of words under very specific circumstances, in the belief that I never would. October gifts. It's a private matter and changes my world completely without changing a thing. But it was another miracle that laid me flat.

Words and deeds are the only gifts that matter at the end of the day, all other things are as dust. On the off-hand chance that I am not actually immortal, my words will be my immortality for a time, echoing in forever, or not.

What is a miracle but a gift for which there is no expectation, no understanding. You accept it and learn to be selfish and covetous of that moment, because it is yours and everything in it belongs to you. Hold it and know that it is yours for always, like the cycle of the seasons. October has come and brought its gifts and there is only tomorrow before us and all the miracles that come with it. The people you love, the change of things as they move through the cycles of life, for few things remain -- except the promise of always and the gifts of October.