On Halloween, and October, and Moving On

Happy Halloween, y'all.
I remember talking to my sister and brother in law on the phone last Halloween.  They had the boys all dressed up for trick-or-treating.  It was a Sunday.
We were being super lame, eating chili, and watching football at home, and I was clipping coupons.  We didn't even hand out candy.

I thought then, why are we being such Halloween grouches?  And, I determined to be more festive this year.
Can you believe I haven't EVER carved a pumpkin? (To be clear, this just wasn't a tradition in my house growing up, probably because it's messy, not because I have a long history of being a Halloween grouch)  Well, one year I kind of supervised a pumpkin carving at a church event, but still, I've never actually done it.

Well, my dreams of super-festive October just didn't happen this year.  I think I was home all of like 10 days in October.  I wasn't home for my birthday, and we (as a couple) never celebrated.  My attempts to go apple picking and pumpkin picking also never happened.  My dreams of making homemade apple butter will have to wait until November. There is hope for this weekend.

All of this has made me pretty bummed out!  But, oh well.  Life goes on.  Tonight, we have half a bowl of candy (oops!) to hand out to our neighborhood kids.  The dogs love the kids in our neighborhood.  And I'm looking forward to seeing them in their costumes.

Next weekend, we'll try again for apples.  I'm done with the pumpkins.

I was thinking about Halloween this morning.  And, I remembered two Halloweens that have been worse than this one.  I believe that comparison is not the best medicine or coping mechanism, but I feel like it's a little more fair if you just compare yourself to yourself.

This story will make my friend Eric very happy. I think it's his favorite Dana story of all time. It is not my favorite, but it is funny...

It was Halloween 1988 (circa).  I was the new kid at school.  At my old school, all the kids dressed up on Halloween.  I didn't pay attention the day they said not to dress up.  So, my mom did my full clown makeup before school that day, handed me a dozen or so cupcakes bought from Bi-Lo, and sent me to the bus stop.  That's when it happened.  I saw the bus come down Sparrow Road.  I had really good farsight back then, at my ripe age of like 8 years old, and I realized that NONE of the other kids were dressed up.
Thankfully, I had awesome reflexes.  I dropped my store bought cupcakes and my book bag right there on the roots of the tree I stood under to wait for my bus, and I ran.   I never even looked back.  I ran straight to my front door, hyperventilating.  My mom held me while I cried my clown makeup off, washed my face, went back to the bus stop and picked up my book bag, stopped by Bi-Lo for new cupcakes, and drove me to school.  She told me it was going to be okay.

I really didn't believe her.  But, I had no choice.  I had to keep going.

I know it sounds silly to look back on the month of October all emo and sulky, especially because there are people dealing with way worse/heavy stuff in comparison, but trust me, it has been a little tough around here.

So.  Happy Halloween, y'all.  At least there's chocolate.  And tomorrow, we'll toast November.