Virginia Is For Families

Is it too early to start thinking about Halloween? I hope not. The cooler weather has arrived and in about eight weeks it will be firmly in control. Hopefully, the scary night will be downright chilly and dark paths will be covered with leaves that protest loudly when children scurry over them.

Summer is nearing an end. There were days when we exposed our bods to the elements without any protection except, perhaps, a thin layer of suntan lotion. But now things are changing and this year there is the worry about special varieties of flu.

Get those shots early! The regular ones are available now and in October the new ones will be ready they tell me. Some of us will not be coming back next summer because we paused before making our appointments!

And then the great Appointment Day will arrive. I hear Vincent Price laughing in the background…..

Oh well. The Grim Reaper comes for all of us in good time and we should have no fear. Enjoy the festivities while you can. I really have only one concern as the scary season approaches . . .

Where is Billy Mays?

And does he realize he no longer needs to pitch a variety of things for 19.95?

, originally uploaded by Davidlind.

Eat, drink and be scary. ~Author Unknown

At first cock-crow the ghosts must go
Back to their quiet graves below.
~Theodosia Garrison

One need not be a chamber to be haunted;
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place.
~Emily Dickinson

Charlie Brown is the one person I identify with. C.B. is such a loser. He wasn’t even the star of his own Halloween special. ~Chris Rock

Oh the joy of waking up at two am and not being able to sleep! What do we do in this situation? Some of us turn on the television I suppose. Others may grab a book and start to read. A few intrepid souls may go for walks and look at the moon. Still others may grab a snack. This last is bad for you I’m told because the calories just sit there and result in an increased waistline.

Of course if you have a snack and then go for a walk you might burn some of those calories. And if you end up being chased around the neighborhood in the middle of the night by a dog or a shadowy figure you may be glad you had something in your tank to burn.

There seem to be certain hours of the night when it’s not alright to take a walk. Or am I just imagining things? It’s fine to go out late or get up very early and walk before daylight but that’s different.

We have a Nintendo Wii now and we can do different things on it. I can bowl on it or pretend I’m a penguin on a large piece of ice. When fish flop up on the ice I can try to eat them and gain points. It’s a balancing exercise and very good for someone who has poor balance. Maybe I should go downstairs and turn it on.

It’s a better deal than, let’s say, going for a walk in the dark at two am and falling over into the ditch because you have poor balance when you cannot see things.

Another thing you can do in the middle of the night is blog. Maybe you will regret it in the morning however. Your eyes will crack up because at some point they finally cracked shut. And you will think “Oh,oh. What did I post last night? Maybe I should have taken a walk.”

Well it can’t be helped. We must take risks in life. We must venture out into the darkness of physical space or inward towards the unknown thoughts floating around in our heads. We can put on our shoes or start typing words that will hopefully lead somewhere in a short period of time.

Sitting. Waiting. Hoping. Fingers at the keyboard.

Nothing. There is nothing here. And my teeth hurt because I clench them when I sleep. Maybe I should turn on the television and watch Billy Mays tell us all about the joys of effective cleansers. Oh wait. He died very unexpectedly after returning home following a rough landing that burst the tires of the airplane. He left home and did not return in good shape.

Maybe he should have bought a Wii and worked on his golf in cyberspace. No. That’s not right. He went out and lived his life in a very successful way. And he died trying. Michael Jackson on the other hand died in bed and he was not full of peanut butter and crackers when his soul went out the door. Excess calories were not his problem.

Maybe he should have taken more walks even in the middle of the night. Scary as that seems to me it could have done him a lot of good. Taking real or imagined risks makes sense sometimes. Yes.

I should take a walk. Right now. In the middle of the night. And bring along this little MP3 player. Perhaps I will see the moon and clouds racing along in silent joy. Or perhaps it will be completely dark and I will fall in a ditch.

Either way I will have accomplished something. I will have merged my two worlds and remained whole. Maybe I will listen to this while exploring the darkness.

04 – Thriller