Halloween Reflections

I was once a cat and once a dog. Then I was given creative license to make up my own Halloween costumes. There was the year I was a ghetto blaster (do you remember those?); The year it snowed, I was a Japanese woman, with a white face and kimono (my cousins recently had a Japanese foreign exchange student). One year my mom bought me really cool see through pink fabric. I spent hours and years playing with it. I decided I was going to be a fairy, but everyone thought I was Buttercup from “The Princess Bride”. I had long blonde hair and of course Buttercup was beautiful and cooler than being a fairy. That sparked my costume a few years later when I decided to be Wesley from “The Princess Bride” for a Halloween party. I cut out a black mask with eyes and wore a black headband, all black clothes, and an old family sword. My brother lent me his cool big black boots. I actually wore that costume for more than one Halloween and adjusted it a few times, but the first time I wore it was when I met my first “boyfriend”, who I basically just talked to on the phone, and exchanged Christmas gifts with.
My dad didn’t really like Halloween, but if he took me trick or treating I had to pay the Snickers toll, still one of my favorite candies.
I remember the Halloween my best friend in Jr. High and I used a rope hung over the railing to lower the candy in a bucket when the kids knocked on the door. Then there was the infamous bloody head. My older brother played Macbeth when he was in high school. They made a bloody replica of his head to make his beheading look realistic. The only time that head came out was on Halloween. It always made our house a little more exciting. The rest of the year it sat on a closet shelf, waiting to scare whoever was staying in the guest bedroom.
Since I’ve been married the best we’ve been is a shark and a scuba diver; although this year, thanks to my sister in-law we were thinking of being Medusa and Perseus.
The last few years I’ve seen a family of turtles; A squared, B Squared and C Squared; Ernie and Burt; the tooth and tooth fairy, Mario and Luigi; the monkey and banana; Luke Skywalker with baby Yoda and tonight someone asked me “Have you seen space?” So what are some of your favorite Halloween memories?

The Boulder and Me!

God sees in us, what we don't always see in ourselves. He knows things that we don't.
I've often heard a story, that you may have heard of too. There was a man who was asked to push a giant boulder everyday. He pushed and pushed the boulder day, after day, after day. He did not understand why he had been asked to move the boulder, but then he realized that he wasn't asked to move the boulder. He was asked to push the boulder and his arms and legs had grown strong from all the pushing that he had been doing. Just for fun I googled the story and you can find one version at: http://prestonely.com/the-story-of-the-man-and-the-boulder/. I've also heard God is making a mansion out of us when we think we're building a cottage.
When I returned from Africa to start a creative writing career, my eyes lighted up to see the good mood blogger job. This would be the perfect job. It would be fun. I'm good at looking at the bright side. I thrive on deadlines. It would give me something to strive for each day; keep me thinking positive; something to get my imagination in shape as I start to write Children's stories; and something to interact with people in a different sort of way. Then I realized you had to get people to vote for you. I have lots of friends, family and professional contacts. But how far do you go in reaching out to your professional contacts for something that seems like a popularity contest? I have lots of friends and family who are professionals. That's why I have a J.D.. Some of whom may not appreciate a fun creative job like this. I also have lots of fun creative friends who flourish and get excited about creative, "reality" network things. Naturally, I was a little worried about sticking my foot out. Sometimes I wish I hadn't opened up that e-mail. If I had seen it a year ago…I would have hit "DELETE". However, I decided to pretend I already had the job and write an article each day. Now I realize I’m more like the man and the boulder.
Applying for this job has helped me to accomplish three things. 1) Working on my better networking skills in working with the different kinds of people I have relationships with: friends, family, and professionals who all have different outlooks and beliefs in life. You never know if I might incidentally end up in politics like my grandmother. 2) Working on my creative writing skills: having a direct purpose and deadline; and 3) Journaling/blogging things that may have gotten left or unnoticed, but provide a lot of fulfillment in life. The application alone has brightened my life. So I encourage anyone who is discouraged about a task they want to complete to look at the side benefits and relish in the journey.