Weenie meanies.

Wow. It's been a while since I've posted. Life moves fast when you're in the left lane, I suppose. In my mind, I try to stay in neutral..ya' know..look around, smell the roses, that sort of thing..but in reality I think I'm always zipping about trying to accomplish this, that, and the other thing. If I'm not actually doing something, I'm THINKING about what I'm GOING to be doing in the near future. But that's a story for a later date.

So, what's new news here, you ask? Halloween '09 happened. I found the actual Halloween night to be a MAJOR, COMPLETE, TOTAL bomb. Lucky for Zeke, he had about 3 or 4 other events before the 31st to celebrate and wear his costume. I, on the other hand, just didn't get my fill of the 'Weenie. To start off, it rained. Ok, I've trick-or-treated in the rain before and still scored tons of loot. Rain can be dealt with. But here's what made the night really lame: Zeke and I were the only people out on our street knocking on doors. One guy didn't even know why we were at his doorstep!!!! It was a very awkward moment - my kid and me standing there, hands out, smiling big, and this guy in his lounge wear looking at us with a puzzled stare. WHAT DID HE THINK "TRICK OR TREAT" MEANT????? OH MY GOD. By the time we got home, we were wet, sweaty (because it was a humid, muggy, rainy night and God knows we have to walk like 26 miles to get to 7 houses around here....SO not worth it) and in horrible moods. The one thing I knew would cheer both Zeke and me up was the dumping of the candy onto the kitchen table and the celebration of the score. So, we took off our wet gear, put away the flashlights, and ran for the kitchen with the goodie bag. Zeke dumped the HUMONGOUS bag onto the table as we all held our breath and.................................6 candy bars dropped out. 6. SIX. Six. SIIIIIXXXXX. And about 4 of them were tiny little bite sized bars. OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG. What was the point of this 'Weenie Mission? Why did we even trek all around our neighborhood, knocking on doors, making small talk, showing off the costume, etc., etc.??? I mean, I had an entire bowl of enormous Snickers bars sitting at the front door just waiting for some Michael Jackson Ghosts or Transformers to show up and hold out their goody bags! Couldn't I have simply filled Zeke's bag up with our own stash? The answer is simple: no. Halloween is about getting out there and visiting your neighbors. Not texting them, not emailing them, not phoning them, and not simply waving to them as you do 40 m.p.h. past their driveway in a rush to get to your next appointment. It's a time to pretend - a time for the kids to pretend they're someone or something else and for us parents to pretend we actually have the time to stand on each others' doorsteps and chat for a bit. And that's why next year, despite the 6 tiny little candy bars in Zeke's huge bag, we'll still be out there all alone in our neighborhood, knocking on doors and saying "Happy Halloween".