Good things have happened in the Octobers of the past. There have been a lot of them, I’ll tell you.
I’d like to give you an actual number of how many Octobers there have been so far, but it is difficult to calculate.
You see, humans — that’s us — showed our furry faces on Earth some long time ago. The oldest hominins are thought to have appeared as early as 7 million B.C.E.
And then, the next step of how we came to be: The earliest species of the Homo genus appeared around 2 million to 1.5 million B.C.E. Our most current evidence supports modern Homo sapiens emerging around 190,000 B.C.E., despite what a lot of good Bible-holding Christians think. Not to mention that big ark of a theme park in Kentucky. I believe it is called Ark Encounter.
Regardless, hard science shows we first emerged around 7 million years ago. And somewhere in all of that, we became concerned with keeping time. We came up with the thought of calendars. However, many years would pass before the Hot, Hot Firefighters Calendar hit the shelves.
Calendars have ancient roots. People began creating various methods of keeping track of days. They can often be connected to astronomy and agriculture.
So the long and short of it? Archeologists have found evidence of timekeeping that goes back to prehistoric times at least as old as the Neolithic period. And as a quick refresher for you: The Neolithic period lasted from around 4300 BC down to 2000 BC, so some 6000 years before the present.
What I’m trying to say, is this. I can’t count all those Octobers. But you get the gist.
As I said. Good things have happened in Octobers of the past. For one, my mom came in the October of 1923. And her mother showed up in the October of 1897. I have an October sister.
The Model T went on sale in October of 1908. Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) was sworn in as the first African-American associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in October of 1967. The first birth control clinic in America was opened in Brooklyn, New York, by Margaret Sanger, a nurse who worked among the poor on the Lower East Side of New York City, in October of 1916. These are a few of the good things among a kazillion others.
So here comes another theme month. Every day this month, I will write about some October event. Some may be good. Other might be bad. And who knows. It is October. Things could get spooky.
Finally, October is the tenth month of the Gregorian calendar. But. Its name is derived from octo, Latin for “eight,” which indicates its position in the early Roman calendar. Octonary. Like an octopus. So this month just might get a hold on you.
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“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
― L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
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“I remember it as October days are always remembered, cloudless, maple-flavored, the air gold and so clean it quivers.”
― Leif Enger, Peace Like a River
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“I keep falling in love with October,
Over and over again!”
― Charmaine J. Forde
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The October Theme. Coming your way.
