Happy October (what’s left of it)! We hope you enjoyed our September 2020 issue despite its lateness. It’s never too late to go back and read any issue/article you have missed. The past two months have been a struggle personally and creatively for me. I’m hoping to get back on track for timely November and December issues. I will be publishing a special voter issue just before the November 3, 2020 election to remind us all why we vote and what’s at stake with this election. Voter turnout was poor in 2016 and we ended up with a president who did not win the popular vote.

Halloween night will soon be here. Will trick or treating be allowed where you live? Will you decide to let your kids participate or will you keep them home? How can you make Halloween 2020 safe and fun for everyone? We have a few ideas in this issue of This AwfulAwesome Life.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and as a survivor, I have a few things to say. You’d think it would get easier with each passing year, but this year was hard for me. Recently, I lost an old friend from high school to breast cancer and a dear friend battled a reoccurrence and won. In the past year, a close friend lost his wife to another type of cancer. I’m reminded of losing my dad and my aunt and too many friends to cancer. I’ve looked at the faces of family members and seen that mix of grief and guilt because they couldn’t save the people they love. We are making inroads to survival, but still, there is no cure. Those of us lucky enough to be called survivors live with the knowledge we are one scan or blood test away from being back in that chemo chair or clear for hopefully another tear.

Did you celebrate Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day? I look at the movement by Indigenous peoples around the world to document the many injustices and atrocities committed by colonization.

It’s Apple Month! I have a delicious recipe to share for a low-sugar apple pie in The Twelve Months of Pie and Linda Cahill has some equally delicious recipes from Pampered Chef to make Apple Month and October unforgettable.

Orlando Bartro, Jim O’Brien, and Patricia Petrusik are back with interesting articles and Christian Joyce has four more albums for your playlist. Don’t miss my review of I Have Something to Tell You: A Memoir by Chasten Buttigieg and our reading recommendations. J.J. Hensley’s new Trevor Galloway action thriller, The Better of the Bad is out and I can’t wait to read it. Seriously, you should buy your copy today.

Do you celebrate National Pizza Day? Test your knowledge of the world’s favorite pie with our quiz in this issue.

Samantha Sayers has been missing for two years. She disappeared on August 1, 2018, after a day of solo hiking at Vesper Peak near Seattle, Washington. Sam was raised in the Erie, Pennsylvania area where her parents Ron and Lisa still live. Her family is exploring all avenues of inquiry to find and bring her home. In the face of such an enormous challenge, they have chosen hope. Please keep sending positive thoughts to Sam and her family. As promised, we will be displaying a yellow ribbon for Sam on the opening page of each issue of This Awful Awesome Life until she is home.

If you are a person of faith, please pray for her safe return to her family. Because we are an online publication, we can update this article with any news. We will also post information on our Facebook page. Thank you!

Please share our link, thisawfulawesomelife.com with your friends and family.

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Happy Reading,

Fran