Aging Halloween

I guess Halloween has moved to being a teenager holiday? I would say that 80% of the trick or treaters that came to our house last night were middle school on up, and a good portion of that was high school students. We even had a mom walk up next to her child, all dressed in costume and she asked for candy as if she was just another kid. It was hilarious, because it wasn't as if her kid was too young to take care of her own business, but it was just a mom on the prowl for free candy. I have to say, it was very admirable, because one day that will be me taking advantage of wheeling around my kid(s) and picking up my own candy while I'm out and about. It's free candy dang it, and you better believe I'm jumping on that scene. I will say though, I was a bit disappointed in the lack of creativity from trick or treater's costumes, Star Wars was thirty years ago for the love of a Jedi. Putting on a football jersey without pads or any other football accessory, come on now people let's up the ante. I did appreciate the girl who had a hoola hoop attached to her with it having a lining all the way around so it could hold all her candy. I think she was an atom or something scientific I guess, but to be able to stroll around without carrying a bag and having all kinds of room for candy was genius. All in all it was fun to be able walk out onto our front porch and hand out candy to all the candy starved kids. It was yet another reminder of how having our house is such a great blessing and resource.

In other news, I have wrapped up my time traveling to different churches to critique sermons for my homiletics class. I have two more papers to write and then I have to interview a pastor about preaching and write a paper on that, so the writing portion is coming to a close. I have to give my message tomorrow in class, so I'm excited and anxious to let fly with that. With football now done and the end of my class in view, I'm really excited to pour my time and energy into writing. I've got all kinds of notes jotted down and plenty of writings that I've started and hope to wrap up. The hope is to wrap up things, organize it all, and get to having it reviewed and ready for revising by the end of December. I started a very difficult section of writing a few days ago and didn't realize how taxing it would be emotionally. Just stirring up all kinds of bad memories and gutting out some of the ugliness I have experienced over the years hasn't been very easy, but it has been very healing. So that it is where I am at and where I am heading in the coming months.

Maybe I'll go trick or treating next year!
Wallace D.