A Place without Any Trouble

I never have been a big fan of Halloween. I mean since after the age of nine or so when candy was the holy grail and getting it free was a jackpot like no other. In the tween years Halloween brought drama. In the later single years it meant trying to find a costume that was creative and flattering simultaneously. Hard to feel cute when dressed as a tube of Crest. Not that I ever donned this costume but you get what I'm saying. Then as a grown up you begin to notice the holiday just brings all of the crazies out. Kind of reminds you that the world really is in a heap of trouble. It's not a big surprise and not the kind of surprise like a fun magazine in the midst of bills in the mail. It's the kind that sobers you back to the reality that sometimes danger is real and truly is lurking around the corner.

I'd like to think that I don't live with my head in the sand but I also don't stick it out into the middle of the intersection only to be reminded just how fast cars really travel. So maybe that's why I liked this Halloween especially much. It felt safe and trouble-free. The girls in their Dorothy costumes skipping down the neighborhood, braids in the breeze, friends at their side. Me behind them chatting easily with really nice and fun neighbors whose daughters love my girls really well. I felt that feeling I'd been missing: community. Is community a feeling? Being a part of one is. It felt so good to be in our little neighborhood of warm and friendly neighbors carefully admiring each child's costume. As dusk settled everyone seemed warmer still and each parent passing by with their little goblin was quick to share a smile and trade stories on the loot collection. I felt like I was part of something in that wonderful way that feels like a good fit.

Auntie Em: Why don't you find a place where there isn't any trouble?
Dorothy: A place where there isn't any trouble. Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It's not a place you can get to by a boat or a train. It's far, far away. Behind the moon, beyond the rain.