When people hear my daughter’s middle name is October, the first question is always, “Were you born in October?” She just smiles and says, “No, I was born in June.” The next question is inevitable: “So, why October?” She laughs and answers, “Ask my parents!”
It all started with my own October memories. Both of my brothers were born in October, kicking off fall with pumpkins, apple cider, corn mazes, and a time when wearing orange wasn’t “weird.” My husband, who grew up making his own costumes, wanted to carry on that creative tradition for our daughter so she always stood out from the other trick-or-treaters. As she grew, our Halloween celebrations only got bigger. Two of her most unforgettable costumes were an iPhone and a “Zombie,” both of which won her first prize in a contest, where she walked away with a massive 20-pound gummy bear!
By middle school, homemade costumes weren’t “cool” anymore, and my husband needed a new Halloween creative outlet. So, he turned to decorating the yard—mostly to impress our daughters' friends. Each year, he upped the ante: a graveyard one year, a monster scene the next, then a giant bug theme, and this year’s masterpiece—a creepy enchanted forest. Some years, little trick-or-treaters are too spooked to make it to the front door. Seeing parents collect their scared child’s candy is the highest compliment my husband could get.
Our house has pumpkins displayed year-round, orange wall highlights, and a candy jar that’s never empty. October is my favorite month, hands down. So when my husband and I were choosing names for our daughters, that October nostalgia—along with my love for the color orange—made the decision easy. And that’s how October became her middle name.