Two years ago, I thought really hard about dressing as a pumpkin for Halloween. By which I mean I thought really hard about drawing a black Sharpie Jack-O-Lantern face on a thrifted XXL orange sweater and pulling it over my giant pregnant belly. But it was too easy, so I never got around to doing it. I ended up packing moving boxes on Halloween night instead, feeling sorry for myself and hiding from trick-or-treaters for whom I was totally unprepared.
Last year, I was too depressed to notice Fall had happened. At the time, I didn't think I was depressed; I just thought I had a really shitty life. Westley was going through an especially clingy phase, and I spent so much time soothing him and feeling sad that I barely remembered that I was a person with interests and a husband and a life. I remember listening from the other room on Halloween night as our 5th-grade-neighbor (who had come over to show off her costume) described her plans for the evening. I remembered having that kind of fun, but it those times seemed like forever ago.
Now, there are beautiful red and gold trees on every street, and businesses have started hawking their pumpkin-flavored wares. My mother brought some of my brother's and my old Halloween costumes out of storage for Westley to try on. This year, I'm excited for Fall: already tucking jeans into tall boots, bringing out blankets and throws, filling the fridge with apple crisp.
The weather has been incredibly clear and sunny, bizarre for Seattle in October (it should be sprinkling at the very least!). I've been taking Westley to the Fruit Market several times a week. It doesn't make for a very interesting or creative schedule, but I'm enjoying the final weeks of local produce before the market closes for the winter, and I'm thankful that the weather makes it easy to be outside.
Yesterday, Rob and I took Westley to the market yet again, to pick out carving pumpkins. (I'd gone back and forth on whether to do Jack-O-Lanterns this year, and finally decided that since they're my favorite part of Halloween, the tremendous mess that would inevitably result from combining pumpkin carving with a toddler was totally worth it.) Westley was more interested dancing to the classic rock on the market radio than looking at pumpkins. I was briefly annoyed, until I noticed a group of firefighters noticing my son, and smiling like crazy. I had to smile like crazy, too, and suddenly, it hit me hard: My life is pretty awesome right now.
I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion. ~ Henry David Thoreau.....................................
