Magical

October is the most magical month of the year.

As a child, I remember counting down the days until October. There has always been some intangible thing about the tenth month of the year. The first frost in the air. The smell of warm cider. Leaves dancing on the side of the road with every car passing. The sound of Friday night football and the faint rhythm of the drum line that can be heard from my front yard.

I was given a daughter during the month of October. 

And she is magical.

(pictures from October of 2010)

I could focus on the bad. On the heartbreak that one October brought us. On the dread that the days leading up to the anniversary bring. 

But, for me, October will always be a reminder that "the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away."

She saved my Octobers, and for that, my Olivia will always be magical.