October

I wrote this in college. It was an imitation exercise in freshman comp class. I don't remember the piece it was based on. It's the only thing I'm proud of that I wrote in college. Or maybe ever:

In the first place, October makes me feel content. Autumn does have this effect. Autumn brings cool evenings, and it is cool evenings that relieve the restlessness of summer nights. They are not chilling, these fall nights, they are only refreshing; the air is brisk, not to mention startling, and it hurries me along to my room, even as I look up into the sky and notice the intense brightness of the autumn stars. October speaks of warmth and protection. It points out what is perfectly obvious yet seldom realized: that the fall and winter months are a blessing, that cold requires warmth, warmth requires companionship, companionship requires love, and the two seasons bring people together and make them dependent on each other. Sometimes the weather proceeds further and forces us to depend wholly on our neighbors, something we fear. But as to the immediate effects of fall, it fills a need in all of us. It brings us together. People together cannot, by consequence, be lonely, and the gathering of friends on a cool October evening is thus the exact antithesis of a desolate being. October makes me feel content.