Shocking

I'm going to divulge something shocking.

I don't like Halloween.

I know. I'm waiting for the agents to come and cart me back to whatever country it is that I came from. It's completely un-American.

I've never really gotten into it - even as a kid.

I don't know if it's because we lived in the country, and trick-or-treating involved trekking around the neighborhood with my mom or aunt behind the wheel (uh - why is it that we never went to TOWN to go trick-or-treating??,) crammed in the car with my cousins, and we had to endure the adults "visiting" with each stop for like an hour, so we only got about 3 pieces of candy, and it was usually raining or cold or something miserable, and our driveway went up the middle of a cornfield and there's always so much scary movie hoopla around this time of the year (seen Children of the Corn lately?) and have you ever walked in the dark through a cornfield by yourself?

Well. That's what I associate with Halloween.

And I'm only slightly exaggerating.

Granted, I've come to terms with the holiday in my adult-years. Pumpkins are fun - I'll give you that. (That's for you, Peg.)

Except when they start to rot in your college apartment because your roommate (PEG) wouldn't part with them yet and they start to smell like fish sticks and you blame your neighbors for cooking fish sticks at all hours of the day and night for weeks on end, only to move one of the pumpkins one day and discover a new cure for diseases growing right in your very own living room.

So, wait. I've just talked myself right back into disliking Halloween again.

Anyway. Little kids dressed up on Halloween are cute. I'm resigning myself to the fact that I'm going to have to endure the holiday with some enthusiasm (however feigned it may be) for the next few years. And trick-or-treating with the Gronaus last night was a blast. I enjoyed myself way more than I anticipated and Jo had a great time with Lucy looking for houses with the lights on, running down sidewalks and of course, the candy. Oh - the candy. Also another redeeming part of the day.

And the day after. Now who had those peanut butter cups again... gotta go. :)