This Is Halloween!

         So few things are as exciting as Halloween.   It’s such a colorful collection of things both scary and innocent.   What other holiday celebrates ghosts and zombies while covering our houses with lights and our lawns with gravestones and fruit?   There really isn’t anything like it.   It’s a celebration of life’s darkest mysteries, but with an element of fun added to it.
         This last Halloween was disappointing.   Hardly anyone decorated, at least, in the areas I was in.   Then again, I drove halfway across the country, starting at the beginning of October, in Montana, until I reached New Hampshire on the 19th.   While it was still a great and fun adventure, I never came across any particular area, as nice as some of them were, and thought, “This place really knows how to celebrate.”   Even here, in New England, home of the “Witch Trials,” the celebrating was a bit lacking.   Decorations are everything.   When I was a kid, they were everywhere.
         Maybe it’s just me: I’m a bit of a night owl, and one of the main elements of Halloween is darkness.   Owls are pretty important, too.   Maybe it’s because that time of year is when it starts to get dark a lot earlier.   Halloween has evolved from such a mish-mash of elements that taking any one of them out would ruin the holiday.   Taking darkness out of Halloween is like taking Santa out of Christmas.
         Some people think that the kids love it because of all of the candy.   Even the kid who, obviously, eats too much of it will tell you, it’s not about the candy.   It really isn’t.   It’s about all of the elements that come together to form a rare feeling of adventure.   It’s about the hunt and the treasure isn’t just a trove of brightly colored treats, but the stories acquired while going after said treats.   I’m still on the hunt for the neighborhood that resembles the one I went to when I was a kid.
         So, let the ghouls, goblins, witches, vampires, and monsters run amok on their way to grab handfuls of sugary snacks.   This adventure comes only once a year, unfortunately, and is over before you know it.