We Grow Memories 🌻🍁🎃

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
— L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

I’ve always loved October. The changing colors, the pumpkins, the Halloween decorations, and those first hints of cooler weather after a long, hot Northern California summer. October has always been an especially meaningful month in our family because of our love of Halloween, costumes, a little mischief, and some very special birthdays.

My dad celebrates his 88th birthday on October 21, and my mom turns 85 on Halloween. Yes, Halloween! With a birthday like that, perhaps it’s no surprise that my mother dresses as a witch every Halloween and has earned the affectionate nickname Naughty Nana. 🎃🧙🧹 👻

Of course, here in the North State, October doesn’t always get the memo that summer is supposed to be over. Sometimes we are still wearing dresses and sandals in 90-degree heat (or hotter) and wondering when autumn plans to make an appearance, but the pumpkins show up anyway, the Halloween decorations emerge from storage, and little by little, the season begins to change.

Recently, my spouse and I visited Historic Hawes Farms in Anderson, California, specifically to wander through the sunflower and zinnia fields. I was eager to see the blooms, camera in hand, ready to photograph whatever caught my attention. There was plenty to notice, from the brilliant colors of the flowers to the playful photo opportunities scattered around the property. I climbed onto an oversized chair and found a couple of sunflowers whose seed heads appeared to be wearing enormous smiles. I may also have helped quite a few others find their smiles. 😂🌻

Hawes Farms has grown and changed over the years, expanding its autumn activities with rides, pumpkins, and seasonal attractions. Along with nearby Nash Ranch, it’s one of those familiar places that has become part of our family’s history. We’ve visited these farms for pumpkin patches and family outings over the years, and returning to a place filled with memories can sometimes bring back moments you haven’t thought about in a very long time.

As we wandered around Hawes, we came upon the enormous colorful bouncing trampoline pillow where children were jumping and laughing. We stopped to watch for a while, remembering when our own daughters, Aubrey and Maya, were little and we bounced there together. It was one of those moments when the years seem to fold in on themselves, and suddenly the memories of two little girls are so vivid that it’s hard to believe how much time has passed.

Our daughters are now grown, attending college and building lives of their own, but it doesn’t seem all that long ago that they were climbing onto enormous pumpkins, racing around on little tricycles, and delighting in the simple pleasures of a day at the farm. We laughed as we remembered those outings, although there was certainly some wistfulness mixed in with the laughter. How could fifteen years have gone by so quickly?

And then there was the corn box. 🌽

I started laughing when I remembered one particularly ridiculous afternoon when my spouse ended up buried in corn kernels, with only a smiling face sticking out. I’m fairly certain the girls were enthusiastic participants in the burial, and I knew there was photographic evidence somewhere. Facebook doesn’t make searching through years of photographs particularly easy, but after some determined digging, I found what I was looking for: an entire album dated October 1, 2011.

There was the photograph I remembered, with that unmistakable grin peeking out from a mountain of corn kernels. There were the girls bouncing, riding, exploring, and sitting together on a pumpkin so enormous it looked as though it belonged in a fairy tale. There was even a photograph of our daughters posing beside a smiling sunflower, which made me laugh because fifteen years later, I was still finding reasons to make sunflowers smile. Some things change over the years, while others apparently remain wonderfully familiar.

And then I came across a photograph that made me stop.

It was of my spouse pulling the girls in a little wagon in front of the Hawes Farms barn, and above them was a sign that read:

WE GROW MEMORIES.

I don’t remember giving those words much thought when I took the photograph fifteen years ago, but seeing them now, after returning to the farm and revisiting our family’s earlier adventures, gave them an entirely different meaning.

On that October afternoon in 2011, we were simply enjoying a day together. We weren’t thinking about how quickly childhood would pass, or imagining that someday we’d return to the same farm without two little girls in tow. We were busy bouncing, exploring, laughing, taking photographs, and apparently burying a family member in corn. We were enjoying an ordinary afternoon that, without our knowing it, would become a treasured part of our family story.

As we look forward to celebrating my parents’ birthdays this month, I’ve been thinking about all the Octobers our family has shared. Having my parents here to celebrate another year is something I don’t take for granted, particularly as they grow older and the realities of aging become more present in our lives.

There’s a tenderness in that awareness, much like the wistfulness we felt while watching the children bouncing at Hawes Farms. I love seeing the young women Aubrey and Maya are becoming, and I’m excited for the experiences and adventures that lie ahead of them, but I can also miss those little girls climbing pumpkins and racing around the farm. We can be grateful for where life has brought us while still missing certain moments along the way, and I think both feelings deserve a place in our memories.

What I especially love about our recent visit is that we hadn’t gone to Hawes Farms looking for nostalgia. We went to see the flowers, spend time together, and enjoy an afternoon wandering through the fields. The memories found us along the way, tucked between the sunflowers, the laughter of children, and the familiar sights of a place we’d visited so many years before.

Our lives have changed in so many ways since that October afternoon in 2011, and there will undoubtedly be more changes in the years ahead. But I hope we’ll keep finding reasons to explore, laugh, play, and notice the little things that make life interesting, whether we’re wandering through a field of flowers, celebrating another birthday, or simply enjoying an ordinary afternoon together.

I’m grateful for the Octobers behind us, and I’m looking forward to the memories we haven’t made yet.

We Grow Memories. 🌻💛