Halloween decorations went up in my neighborhood mid-September. Finally, we have arrived to the BIG DAY, and thank goodness! The witches and spiders and pumpkins in my yard are beginning to look a bit tired and bedraggled. Not so for many of my neighbors. It looks like all the extravaganza of Christmas, New Year’s and Halloween rolled up into some fabulous displays. Close as we live to Hollywood, a lot of movie industry production talent lives in the neighborhood, and they have had time on their hands. Lifelike and scary displays abound. Clue the writhing snakes. The first time our dog Bogie saw the skeleton in the rocker (see picture above) he started barking furiously as she calmly continued to rock. There will be some crying children tonight for sure if they haven’t seen her for the last 6 weeks on their walks around the neighborhood.
What this tells me is that we are desperate for some fun. And squeaky little voices saying “trick or treat!” Everyone I know, even the old fogies like us, have been to costume parties this weekend. We even had a family costume party wedding yesterday to finally celebrate son Alex’s wedding that was supposed to be March 21, 2020. I swear all weddings should be costume parties from now on. We used to put on “wedding costumes” anyway before COVID. This was a lot less stuffy and truly from the heart.
Maybe, that is what we need to learn from this long lock down. Celebrate more. And, don’t take the good times for granted. Perhaps we take this into our work environments creating more space for friendly competitions or gamification that makes working together richly rewarding. Usually we say it is time for new at the new year, but why wait? Let’s make spooky new traditions starting now.