One More Writer

I love October. If you were to watch a highlights film of the autumn weather in Oregon, all the footage would come from October. The month starts out hot and summary, sandals and shorts, and ends with the thought of winter, sweaters and scarves.

Tonight, the last day of the best month of the year, I stocked up on candy and prepared for the deluge of trick-or-treaters. And I do mean deluge. We got at least six - nay, seven! Perhaps I was being overly optimistic when I bought three bags of candy and carved up a pumpkin for the front porch. The pumpkin's name is Spike. If I can find my camera charger before Spike returns to the soil, I'll put his mug up on the site. The picture at top is from Deterings Orchard near Harrisburg. It's always been one of my favorite parts of the fall - going to pick a pumpkin, try the apple cider, pet the golden-haired puppies, walk along rows of apple trees and take lots of photos.

I didn't take many photos when I went to the orchard several weeks ago. I went with Lillian. I called her up to see if we might rekindle a friendship. No, that's not quit accurate: It's more like I called her because I missed her and I wanted to do some surveillance, to see if Brook had any future shot at a relationship with her at some point down the road. Short answer: Game over, man.

She's dating someone else now. She seems really happy. And I'm happy for her, but damn it was hard to hear. You know, we promised a lot of things to each other. She's broken all those promises, but since we're not dating anymore I guess I shouldn't find that surprising. I was moping around for a week or two after seeing her, realizing these silly fantasies of "three years from now, when I graduate law school, I'll call her up and we'll see each other and ..." are just a pipedream. Yet as time passes, I realize I'm fortunate to be single again. I'm far happier now than I was, she's far happier now than she was. This represents a net economic gain. Yes, I've lost my hope for a future with her, but that's a luxury, as this means when the right woman comes along for me I won't be too blind to see it.

So that's the deal with the girl. Well, it's almost midnight. October has come and gone, leaving a thick layer of leaves on the ground, a flurry of colder weather and a law student who's wondering if he has a chance making the top 20 percent of the class, much less numero uno. We turned in final papers for our legal writing class today. I was up late in the library like the other last-minute procrastinators, but now it's done, and I need a good night's sleep to recuperate.