The Spirit of Halloween.

As we are less than two weeks away from Halloween. Even though I planned ahead and promised my soul away that I wouldn't be derailed by my depression to celebrate Halloween all month long on this website, I was not only derailed, but completely brought to a grinding halt because there was a desperate girl strapped to the tracks ahead of me. (That desperate girl was me.)

In all honesty, I've sold my soul to the devil plenty of times that even he knows I'm promising him a whole lotta nothin'. But, he likes my quirky sense of humor, and that I crack jokes about offing myself often for the purpose of making sure I don't. Making quasi friends with your demons can keep them from overtaking you entirely. Anyway, the point is, depression beat me again. I didn't follow through on ALL of my month long activities, but I'm persevering on nevertheless. I say it to myself all the time. Taking a break, or falling behind is ok, just don't quit. So, I still have blogs for you about the Ray Harryhausen movies we've been watching. My family and friends will be contributing their Halloween memories as guest contributors. I also have postcards for my subscribers, and just a few other tricks (and treats) up my sleeve for you. I intend to sprinkle new content here and there like candy in your buckets. Who knows when, and sometimes there might even be full bars!

But for now, I want to leave you with a fun size treat. My thoughts on what this holiday means to me in the most concise way possible. (Which for me is difficult!)

I was chatting with a friend of mine about the disappointment and stress I felt in not doing all the things I had planned for this Halloween month. I came clean about how it feels like too much pressure to make it a month long celebration and everything needing to be an "Insta worthy" event. The reality is that I am tired. There are a million transitions happening in my personal, work, and family life. Things aren't great at all. Keeping all of that from delving into complete chaos is where all of my energy goes. I rarely even watch my favorite tv shows or movies anymore, because by the time I have some space and time for myself, I just fall asleep or feel too brain dead to do anything that requires energy. I don't have spirit enough for my daily life. I have even less to give to a month long Halloween.

But what I do have is kids who still want to celebrate and make memories. I have kids who don't care about what we do, just as along as we do it together. And that was when my Halloween spirit started to come back. Whether it's putting spooky sprinkles on a cheesecake, window shopping pumpkins, or just looking at funny Halloween costumes online, the point is that we are spending time laughing and dreaming together.

Now I know the history behind Halloween, and why and where we get the spooky "requirements." And believe me, that lifestyle lives in my heart year round for life. But Halloween is much more than just horror, ghosts, and posturing to prove how dark and edgy we are.

Halloween has become a day for celebrating imagination, fantasy, dreaming, and celebrating the joy of being kid who doesn't need anything more than some free candy to have the best day ever.

As adults celebrating a holiday that is ultimately for children (as my dear friend reminded me), we need to take a moment and appreciate how simple the holiday actually is. Simple is beautiful Simple is going out on October 31st, and honoring the dreaming child you were 20 or 30+ years ago. It is giving a voice to the dreams and hope you had, and learning to be excited for small things without it being complicated. Halloween is about a community of adults giving back to kids.

I joke about the candy, but it really symbolizes something special. Here people are passing out candy to kids for free while they dress up as whatever their dreams are for no reason other than it's fun to see kids happy and hopeful.

So that's the thing I hope you take away from all this. Don't overthink it. If you didn't do all the special events or get those cards out, it's really not a big deal. Let yourself find joy in something as small as chocolate. Let yourself get lost in a superhero dream. Even you don't have kids, the best way to honor and celebrate Halloween is to let yourself be a kid again.

Dream big. Hope even bigger. Happy Halloween my dearest friends.