Thursday, 10/25/2018

If there is no candy you hate, then I would do exactly what you are! Maybe get out of the house too?

The system that works for me is to buy decorated zip lock bags, Halloween pencils, and anything with coconut, which I deplore. I pack up the bags, and as I zip lock each I chant "What's locked in the bag, stays in the bag !". The pencil helps me remember it's about the kids.

My Halloween routine is to buy stuff I don't like and put it in a big bucket outside at the back porch, which is well lighted. I turn out the lights at the front door. Doorbells ringing and people knocking freaks the dogs out.

So many interesting thoughts spread out between everyone's posts. Cruises are a great vacation option! And Key West is it's own culture, they even call themselves the Conch Nation. We honeymooned there in a September long ago. Every morning we got up to go for a swim, then brunch, then like clockwork it would rain around 12:30 pm and we'd have to go back to our room for an hour or so. Perfect honeymoon schedule. And the sub thing, so close to a full moon! I'm leaving my classes in the hands of a capable sub for a four day weekend. We're on our way to Texas to visit dh brother, or as he calls him, my half of a brother. It's a beautiful story that started in pain and loss. My mil died very unexpectedly at age 60. After her death, her children found some strange items in her closet. When she was a 21 year old, she had moved to Texas to hide a pregnancy, and placed the baby for adoption, returned home, and never spoke of it. Fast forward many years, and that baby, now grown, found her, 2 years before she died. When he finally made contact, she told him, I always knew you would. I told you we had to be apart, but you have to look for me later. I always choke up whenever I think about her all alone, holding her little boy, and telling him this. And when we met his mother(sadly his Dad had already passed) she told my husband, I always wanted to meet your mother so I could thank her. More choking up. The outcome: a part of my mil that we didn't know about came into our lives. What a gift!! My husband and his siblings are very close with the half of a brother, and the nieces and nephews love their uncle. And I've learned a lot about nature vs. nurture. He and my husband do and say so many similar things, it's spooky.

How wonderful that they were able to ultimately connect and build a relationship!

My younger DD and DS were adopted and we opened their adoptions when they were teenagers. DD has two half siblings who she keeps in contact with and she periodically sees her birthmother and other birth family members. Not close, but friendly. DS is very close to his birthmother and her entire family and we are as well. They are basically extended family to us these days.

And ah yes, the yearly Halloween candy dilemma. For sure, I buy the candy on the way home from work, any earlier is just asking for it. And the next day, the leftovers go to school. But in between... If I'm really, really honest with myself, not having a plan for the in between means I'm actually planning on eating candy. There, I said it, out loud. For me, the only truly fail safe option is to not hand out candy, which I think is a perfectly reasonable choice.