Confessions of an October Baby ~ by Author Darlene Kuncytes

As we get ready to say goodbye to October, I’m hard pressed to let go of one of my favorite months.

Those of you who know me, know that I’m a die-hard summer girl. I love the sun and the water – but I am also a truly hard-core October baby, too! Lol

And it’s not just because I was born in October.

It’s because for me, a girl who loves all things scary, October is my Christmas!

I love that there are tons of scary movies on at any given time in October. Those are my jam and I love it! I love ghost shows and anything scary. (funny I turned out to be a romance writer, huh? 

 

I love the cool, breezy nights.

The fun begins on the 1st and continues until all the little ghouls and goblins are safely tucked into their beds after a hopefully prosperous night of trick or treating.

And it’s marvelous!

I will say that this year has been a strange one for us. I wasn’t sure if we should do the whole candy thing. Our city has been wishy-washy on if we were even going to have trick or treating, and that breaks my heart on so many levels. 

Some of my favorite memories of my childhood are Halloweens.
I loved dressing up and going out to collect all sorts of goodies, then sitting under a street lamp to see what we were willing to trade with some of the other neighborhood kids we met up with. 

A little 411 for you all - No one EVER wanted those awful pumpkin seeds that were white from all the salt on them and came in the red package. Yuck!

But it’s not only Halloween that makes October so amazing. It’s the entire feel of the month. The leaves are beginning to gain their color. The air gets that crispness to it that is perfect for fires and hobo pies or s'mores. 

I’m not going to lie. I’m going to miss October. Just as I’ll miss summer, because we all know what’s coming next for most of us.
That dreaded white stuff. The greyness of the world around us that we must deal with as well as everything else going on right now. At least until spring comes around again.

And it will! 

I wanted this blog post to hopefully inspire in a time that is trying for a lot of us. I know so many of us dread the upcoming cold.
So, this year, take a deep breath, and make a point of doing something in the next few months to bring light and color to the world around you. Something that will bring a small smile to your face when you look at it. 

I’m far from being crafty. WAY far from it. I mean, I’m the one who glues their fingers together! LOL

But this year I decorated my tables with fake white pumpkins and fake apples, and do you know what? They do make me smile when I see them, and they will proudly sit there through November, until the Christmas decorations come out.

I guess what I’m really trying to say is - this year above any other in for as long as I can remember, we really need to prepare ourselves for the months ahead. 

The holidays are upon us, and they will be different from any others we have ever experienced before, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t still make them amazing. 

Just like the way October starts the true beginning of fall and the holiday season with its glorious burst of color, we need to keep that magic going in the months ahead. 

We all could use it!

Stay safe and never, ever forget to enjoy the moment.
Kisses and pounce hugs!
Dar




Pictures courtesy of Google

Hello From the Other Side ~ Darlene Kuncytes

It’s that time of year again, when ghosts and goblins roam the streets in search of treats... When the air is filled with that subtle hint of excitement at what you just might encounter along your way. 

I love Halloween. 

Maybe it’s because I’m an October baby, I don’t know, but I love all things spooky. I mean, who doesn’t love sitting around a roaring fire telling ghostly tales? 

It’s practically a rite of passage growing up.  Sitting under the streetlight in the summer, telling each other the urban legends we had heard, and swore were true because they happened to a friend of a friend who told them to you. lolol

I have always loved reading true stories of hauntings, and I simply can’t get enough of shows on the subject. (Hello Travel Channel!!!)

My interest might also be in part because of the few strange things that have happened to me. Although, who are we kidding? I have loved horror and jump scares for as long as I can remember.

So. This month I decided to share a few of them with you in preparation for All Hallows Eve! But…don’t worry, they aren’t scary. My scary experience with a Ouija board will have to wait for another time. 

This month I’ve decided to share some things that have happened to my sister and I, that were actually pretty comforting. 

It was about a month after we lost my mom. My sister and I were sitting in the living room talking about her, and about how quiet things seemed with her gone. My mother was a character and a half. She told it like it was, and had a sense of humor that would leave you in stitches. 

Anyway, we were just talking quietly about how much we missed her, and one of my dog’s balls, which was sitting in front of the television, rolled across the floor and between us. We sat there in silence as we watched it move across the floor and come to a stop, then just looked at each other in shock before smiling and agreeing that is was mom’s way of saying hello. There was no one near it, the dogs were all sleeping on the couch, no open windows. In fact, it was a thick, heavy rubber ball that you put treats in, so even if the windows had been open, it would have taken Dorothy Gale’s tornado from the Wizard of Oz to move it. 

The next incident was a few months after that. I came home from work to find my sister sitting at the kitchen table, white as a sheet. When I asked what was wrong, she handed me our cordless phone and instructed me to listen to the saved message. I did, but all I heard was what sounded like a group of people talking and laughing, as if a party were taking place, and I looked at her in confusion. 

Someone must have butt dialed. 

She said that she was at the sink when the phone rang. She was cooking and decided to let the voice mail grab it. After the usual 5 rings, it kept on ringing which she thought odd because it should have gone to voice mail. So, after a few more rings she grabbed it and heard what I had just heard. People talking and laughing. You couldn’t make out what we being said, but again, it sounded like a party. 

She may or may not have growled something not so nice into the phone before hanging up. lol

She was about to go back to cooking when she thought about our caller id. She looked up the number and kind of freaked when she saw it was our home number, and it said the person calling was my mother! The phone bill had never been in her name, so to see the number of our phone and my mother’s name show as the person calling was really, pretty crazy. 

After I got over my case of the shivers and thought about it, I decided that it as our mom’s way of letting us know that she was okay, and with those she loved. My mom loved people, and nothing on this earth made her happier than sitting around talking. 

We saved the message, but a day or two later, my sister tried to look it up again, and it was gone. No record of the call at all. 

These are just a few of the things that have happened, and whether you believe in the paranormal or not, I myself take comfort in and choose to believe that it was my mom letting us know that she was where she needed to be. 

So, this Halloween, just enjoy the feel of the season. And, maybe think that sometimes those we love can come back for just the briefest of moments to let us know that they are okay. 

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Dar