The Contents of a Tesseract

This past Thursday, I turned 35. It was a normal day, really. I did laundry, took the kids to school, had lunch by myself, took Bunny to Brownies, took Bunny to a birthday party (not mine - one of her friends’ ), then went out to a nice restuarant to eat.

Friday and Saturday, however, were not normal at all! My husband was off work Friday, and we had a wonderful day sleeping in, playing with the kids, and enjoying the whole family atmosphere during the day. I really love days like that.

Several of my friends are also born in November. I don’t know why, but us scorpios tend to seek each other out. Maybe it is because of our inherent creativity. Anyway, there was a new science fiction convention in our hometown, and our costuming group, the 501st (Vader’s fist) Southern Outpost was asked to attend as a draw to the public. Of course, we jumped at the chance to promote a new convention in our own city. The fact that the date was right in the midst of our birthdays was a nice benefit. We always attract attention. It’s hard not to notice 10-15 storm troopers wandering around the halls of a hotel, or waving at people in the parking lot.

I ended up being a judge (one of five) in the costume contest, which was really fun. I’ve been a judge at two different cons now, and it’s always hard to pick a winner. I have found its easiest to stop looking at expectant faces and center on the quality of work. Even so, anyone who gets the courage to get on stage with an outfit, and puts forth effort should get recognition. There were three fan judges and two celebrity judges - Dirk Benedict and Chase Masterson. The con was in its first year, as I said before, and things didn’t run smoothly, but it worked out. We had a great time, and a man in an incredibly difficult Shaak Ti costume won (Shaak Ti is a jedi from the Star Wars movies and the Clone Wars cartoon series).

As usual, the best part of getting together with the other troopers is getting together with the other troopers. We have the best time. They have quickly become part of my family. The other part of my family had a great time as well. My husband really enjoys his alone time with the kids. He raked all of the leaves into huge piles and let them jump in them all day Saturday. Then, Saturday night, he had the night off and my mother took the kids to see Peter Pan. It all worked out. We have learned over the past 8 years that we both need things outside of the normal “being together” so that we can appreciate being together. I feel very lucky to have a partner that loves being with the kids just as much as I do.

So .. I’m 35, and I had a whole convention for a birthday party.. and I feel pretty good about being this age.

When is it that people lose the innate ability of wonder? You see it a lot in the ads on tv for Christmas. It usually involves snow, a child looking around them in amazement, and tinkly jinglebells music in the background.

Why don’t we have that kind of ad for Halloween?

When I was a child, we had one house in our neighborhood that scared the holy hell out of us. They took joy in it, too. Dry ice, spooky noises, a long ascent to the dark curtained doorway invited fear from the curb. Getting there was a trial. It made the candy that much sweeter.

This weekend, our kids, being small and not really into being that scary yet, dressed as Pocahontas and Thomas the Tank Engine. They were extremely cute, but they came home with their small pumpkins overflowing. I suppose that is a sign of the times that they didn’t have a single scary story to tell. They expected to receive candy just for ringing the doorbell, and did.

There is hope, however, for those who wish to preserve the true holiday of Halloween. Our friends, who live in a separate subdivision, take great pains - to the extent of taking days off of work- to prepare for Halloween. They have a haunted yard. Every year, we help them scare the willies out of the kids in their neighborhood. Their entire area knows about this tradition, and they have parents commuting to bring their kids to this haunted yard. This year, the theme was “dead bodies”. We were all undead things of one type or other. A fog machine, scary lights, frightening noises cast an eerie light on the mock graveyard that we haunted. To get the candy, the children had to approach the coffin in the center, move a skeletal hand out of the way, and reach in to the bowl. Only the very young were spared. Of course, getting out of the graveyard was the interesting part. That’s when the skeletal zombie and the scary guy from Hellraiser chased after them.

Funnily enough, my children love to help lure the kids in. Bunny will say “it’s allright. see? I’m here.. nothing’s happening to ME.” I suppose we are steeping them in the fun part of Halloween. Hopefully, when they are older, they will have haunted yards of their own. It’s never supposed to really be about the candy. It’s about the awe and joy that comes from being safe, yet afraid. It is about that piece of time that lasts well into adulthood memory, and keeps the inner child alive for a few more years.

We need more wonder like that.

EErrrrrrk!! My hard disk died. I thought for sure I’d never remember my password or sign in name. I’m so glad I did!

Here is a link to the temporary blog I started before I remembered enough to figure things out here.

http://spaces.msn.com/members/JenksDestiny/

There’s a very important entry about Hurricane Wilma victims that are trapped in Cancun, so please read.

It’s good to be home, though !