Retrospect: November

Self-tutoring about various periods of year: the tutor reflects about November.

Even when I was a kid, November I realized as unique. It was day by day, without expectation.

September was still summer, exciting because of a new class. As October began, so did fall, in earnest. It yet carried some of September’s freshness, but also the anticipation of Halloween.

In November, the newness of the school year – and the novelty of Halloween – expired. Everything was “what it was,” just day-to-day school and going home. As a kid, the idea of where it would lead was too distant to contemplate.

I lived on a military base then: security was guaranteed. After supper I’d often go out and walk around, sometimes with a friend, sometimes alone. We’d visit the playground or other haunts. It would be long-since dark, of course.

Halloween wrappers still lay on the ground, but were relics from a time impossible to return. We would talk about whatever’d happened that day or might happen tomorrow. We always enjoyed that, in the dark, the swings and see-saws were all ours.

What made November different was that all the newness and novelty were gone, with what remained hard to describe. Back then, the Christmas season didn’t start in November.

In PEI, November’s weather wasn’t even necessarily definable. I recall going to and from school some days wearing only a turtleneck sweater (I still remember it – it was purple.) My grade two teacher even commented that some November days, I didn’t wear a jacket. However, the days were often sunny and warm enough for a kid to play outside like a month earlier.

So, for me, even back then, November was challenging to contemplate. No-one else seemed to notice; I’ve never heard anyone else mention this idea. However, it’s continued, for me: I still find November an intriguing time of year. Perhaps it’s a transition, like a station where no-one leaves the train.

November might be my favourite month, because it’s so full of questions, like a road with no signs. Yet, I’ve always noticed that when I look again, it’s December. Then, I wonder how November disappeared, perhaps like the Halloween candy that never seemed to linger to December.