IT’S A GREY and rainy day in San Francisco; the buildings are dark and colorful from the rain and the orange and yellow and red autumn leaves are falling from the trees and lining the streets.

It’s November 1st, the day after Halloween. The essence of the season is in the air. I’m roaming down Van Ness. I’ve pulled off to write this on a street corner with my back against a wall, watching the world go by. The wind feels good coming down the road, blowing through my jacket.

I’ve seen many interesting people walking down the street. The day is stormy, and everybody’s just trying to live — live before we die, or live before we die.

Sometimes it’s hard to know the difference; when all we have is the present day, how will we choose to see it? How do we view this world we live in — good or bad, for us or against us, redeemable, meaningful, beautiful, poetic, story driven, character driven?

We’re all the hero of our story, where every day’s a page to be written. I want to live before I die. No matter what life puts in front of us, there’s a reason to go out and feel the rain of a perfect stormy day.

We’re all trying our best, with different circumstances and ways of thinking that we try to piece together — but when the puzzle doesn’t fit, will we have a fit? Or will we try to see from the other point of view, to open up our eyes in a way we never knew?

Emotions, our past, these things get in the way. They obscure our vision like the clouds of a stormy day. But they don’t have to — I hope to see today as beautiful.

I hope to see each person as a person. I hope to smile when I don’t want to and laugh and cry when I need to. I hope to be me, cause that is all we can ever be. This is a day to be written, and I’ll make it a good one.

I’ll be writing a story every day in November as a November Writing Challenge. Join me, tell your story, even if it’s just the story of a cloudy day.

There’s a joy to be found there, in the trying. You never know how putting down the words can open your heart and make you think a little differently. It continues to for me. I’m excited to discover new things about myself and about the world this month.

Who knows what it will bring.