The pumpkin is closely associated with fall for a few key reasons, many of which are rooted in history, culture, and agriculture:

1. Harvest Season

Pumpkins are harvested in the fall, typically in September and October, which aligns with the broader agricultural calendar of the season. Historically, people would celebrate harvest time with festivals, and pumpkins, being plentiful, became a natural symbol of abundance.

2. Halloween Tradition

Pumpkins are a central part of Halloween celebrations, especially in the form of jack-o’-lanterns. This tradition began in Ireland, where people originally carved turnips. When Irish immigrants came to the U.S., they found pumpkins, which were larger and easier to carve, making them the new choice for the spooky lanterns. Over time, this became a staple of Halloween, a major fall holiday.

3. Thanksgiving

Pumpkin pie is a traditional dish in North American Thanksgiving feasts. Since Thanksgiving takes place in late November, pumpkins are tied to this fall holiday as well. The abundance of pumpkins during the harvest season made them a common ingredient for early American settlers.

4. Fall Festivals and Decor

Pumpkins, with their bright orange color, visually represent the colors of autumn (orange, red, yellow). They are often used in decorations for fall festivals, homes, and storefronts. Their rustic, natural look is symbolic of the changing season, as people shift from summer activities to more indoor, cozy, autumnal traditions.

5. Cultural and Marketing Associations

In more recent years, pumpkins have been strongly linked to fall in popular culture and through marketing, especially with the rise of products like pumpkin spice lattes and other pumpkin-flavored foods and beverages. These items have become synonymous with the “cozy” fall feeling that many people look forward to, further cementing the pumpkin’s association with autumn.

These combined factors — agriculture, cultural traditions, and modern-day marketing — have made the pumpkin an iconic symbol of fall.

1. Better Work-Life Balance

Many remote jobs also come with flexible schedules, which means that workers can start and end their day as they choose, as long as their work is complete and leads to strong outcomes. This control over your work schedule can be invaluable when it comes to attending to the needs of your personal life. Whether it’s dropping kids off at school, running some errands, attending an online fitness class in the morning, or being home for a contractor, these tasks (and more!) are all easier to balance when you work from home. Flexible schedules aren’t the only options, however. You can also explore part-time remote jobs, evening jobs, jobs with four-day work weeks, and weekend job schedules to find your ideal fit.

2. Less Commute Stress

The average one-way commuting time in the U.S. is 27.1 minutes—that’s nearly an hour each day spent getting to and from work, and it really adds up. According to the Auto Insurance Center, commuters spend about 100 hours commuting and 41 hours stuck in traffic each year. Some “extreme” commuters face much longer commute times of 90 minutes or more each way. But wasting time commuting is just one of the downsides of getting to and from work. More than 30 minutes of daily one-way commuting is associated with increased levels of stress and anxiety, and research shows that commuting 10 miles to work each day is associated with health issues like:

• Higher cholesterol
• Elevated blood sugar
• Increased risk of depression

Ditching the commute helps you support your mental and physical health. The time savings can allow you to focus on priorities outside of work, like getting extra sleep in the morning, spending more time with family, getting in a workout, or eating a healthy breakfast.

3. Improved Inclusivity

Remote work enables companies to embrace diversity and inclusion by hiring people from different socioeconomic, geographic, and cultural backgrounds and with different perspectives—which can be challenging to accomplish when recruiting is restricted to a specific locale that not everyone wants, or can afford, to live near. And by hiring employees who can work from home in the communities where they feel the most comfortable and supported, companies choose to support diversity, community, and family.

Telecommute jobs give people who may have a hard time finding steady employment at an onsite job, like those with disabilities or caregivers who need a flexible schedule, the opportunity to follow their career goals without having to worry about commuting back and forth to an office. It also gives workers the flexibility to get to doctor’s and other healthcare appointments when needed.

4. Positive Environmental Impact

The 3.9 million employees who worked from home at least half time before the pandemic reduced greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of taking more than 600,000 cars off the road for an entire year. A whopping 7.8 billion vehicle miles aren’t traveled each year for those who work at least part-time from home, 3 million tons of greenhouse gases (GHG) are avoided, and oil savings reach $980 million. And by making environmentally sound choices—like opting to use less paper and monitoring their air conditioning, heating, and lighting—telecommuters have the same potential impact on air quality as planting an entire forest of 91 million trees.

5. Impact on Sustainability

Remote work supports a variety of sustainability initiatives, from economic growth and reduced inequalities, to sustainable cities, climate change, and responsible consumption. One of the fastest, cheapest ways for employers and employees to reduce their carbon footprint and affect climate change is by reducing commuter travel. In fact, the world is already seeing markedly reduced pollution, congestion, and traffic during the pandemic response, and being able to experience the results firsthand may be a driver of remote work for everyone involved.

Here are some interesting facts about October:

1. Name Origin: October comes from the Latin word “octo”, meaning eight. It was the eighth month in the ancient Roman calendar, which began in March, before January and February were added.
2. October Birthstone: The traditional birthstone of October is the opal, symbolizing hope, creativity, and innocence. Tourmaline is also an October birthstone, representing balance and healing.
3. Zodiac Signs: October starts with Libra (up to October 22), symbolizing balance, harmony, and fairness, and ends with Scorpio (from October 23), representing passion, resourcefulness, and determination.
4. National Observances:
   • In the U.S., October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, raising awareness and funds for breast cancer research.
   • It’s also National Hispanic Heritage Month (from September 15 to October 15), celebrating the culture, history, and contributions of Hispanic and Latinx Americans.
   • October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, promoting safe practices online.
5. Halloween: October 31 is Halloween, a celebration of all things spooky and supernatural, with traditions of dressing up in costumes, trick-or-treating, and carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns.
6. Full Moon: The full moon in October is traditionally called the Hunter’s Moon. It follows the Harvest Moon and historically signaled a time for hunting ahead of winter.
7. Fall Foliage: October is known for its spectacular autumn foliage in the Northern Hemisphere, as leaves turn vibrant shades of red, orange, and yellow.
8. October Festivals: Oktoberfest, a major festival originating in Germany, often continues into the early part of October, known for beer, Bavarian culture, and lively celebrations.

I think it’s been said quite often : if you want a good relationship, your partner should be your best friend. You will see similar sentiments on greeting cards, on little gifts especially during Valentine’s Day) and you will see it splattered all over social media images, posts and clips with the lines “I married my best friend”. It gives off the impression that their love is also based on friendship and not just physical and mental attraction.

After the heady, passionate days of falling head-over-heels for a partner, the magic of romantic love can start to wane. It takes a lot to work at keeping the romance alive and in the meantime, having your best friend being the one you live with and you are married too is a huge plus. It means a lot if you both can share interests and hobbies and enjoy doing them together.

It is said that in in contrast to romantic love, which even philosophers characterized as a desire to possess the other person, a friendship-based relationship can have many advantages, namely respecting the other person’s freedom and interest in activities outside of the relationship. I wouldn’t say that it is necessary for your spouse to be your best friend but it does have a lot of advantages if they are.

Prompt from The Learning Network at The New York Times at The New York Times