Up until recently, I was a summer guy. Summer! Summer! Summer! The heat, the getaways, the beach, July 5, Labor Day. It was my favorite season, and nothing was even close.
That’s changed. I’m officially a fall guy. I know … I know—why so late to discover the beauty of the season? Hard to say. But when you combine the cascading leaves (and leaf piles), the myriad colors, apple picking, cider, Halloween, the start of school, cool breezes, the no-longer-especially-distant vision of the holidays … well, it’s blissful. Or, to quote The Wife: “In the summer everyone’s going away, running around, busy with camp. In fall everyone comes back, it’s nice to be outside, it’s not too hot, it’s beautiful out.”
My thing is Halloween. Looooooooooove Halloween. My Top 3 holiday list goes thusly:
1. Halloween.
2. Halloween.
3. Halloween.
We happen to live in a part of town that, upon our arrival seven years ago, was d-e-a-d come Halloween. So we decided to do something about it. On that day, all our neighbors and their kids gather at our house. We all go trick or treating together, then come back for pizza and the haunted house I make annually in our dark, dank basement. As I’ve said for the past three decades, “What can be better than a holiday with zero religious obligations, where you dress up in a costume and ask for free candy?”
One of the other elements that makes this season special is my nephew, Jordan. He’s 10, a great kid. We have an annual tradition where we pick a night, have dinner, then visit an insanely frightening haunted house. This is our destination for 2010.
So happy for fall!
PS: Random thoughts:
1. I get people not voting Democrat in the upcoming election. Really, I do. Obama has been uninspiring, the economy sucks, they had the 60-vote majority and accomplished very little. That said, if you look over the Republican Party’s stated plan, it basically reads like this: Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. Which is fine and dandy, were this nation not bleeding. Again, I get it, and I’m as disappointed as the next guy. But as ineffective as the Dems have been, I’m unwilling to vote for a party that leans so heavily toward the wealthy.
2. Along those lines, are there any dumber voters in America than poor rural whites? Seriously. I understand wealthy whites voting Republican. I understand poor African-Americans voting Democrat. But if you’re a white family with a collective income of $30,000, what exactly do the Republicans offer you? Answer: Guns, no gays and waving flags.
3. Just put a Band-Aid over my 3-year-old son’s finger. He didn’t have a cut or anything—but swears it feels better. 🙂
