(Written: October 31, 2015)

Halloween, Schmalloween!

I must be crazy. Actually, I know I’m crazy, Today I just feel nuttier than normal. “Why?” you ask. Because today is Halloween and I don’t care. Who in their right mind doesn’t care about Halloween? I told you, I’m not in my right mind, I’m nuts. In fact, I sometimes make a fruitcake look sane. It’s not that I’ve always not cared about Halloween. Just a few years ago I was besotted with the holiday, making all kinds of Halloweeny paper crafts and hoping the clock would stop ticking until I finished them. I even bought candy for the kids I knew would not be coming. Later, I ate it all and gained nary a pound. Ah ha!

Like all kids, I used to love Halloween. I had one of those talented mothers who fashioned wonderful costumes from aluminum foil, sparklies, and thread. When I was eight, I went as a nurse and wore my mother’s nursing cape—navy on the outside and gold on the inside of very sturdy wool. I felt so grown up, looking like mother, who still did private duty nursing on occasion. Unfortunately, I ended up getting pneumonia. It was too cold for a heavy wool nursing cape of navy and gold that year. Days later I went by ambulance to the hospital where I was outfitted with an oxygen tent. I felt awful but thought the tent was pretty cool. It’s not like now where they just stick a little thing into your nose that pumps in oxygen—not in 1954. Yes, that makes me 69, although I could swear I was only 27 three weeks ago. I swear to you I was—at least my mind, if not my body. So, I sit here by my lonesome at my computer, a headache threatening, hoping no kids show up since I didn’t buy candy this year. And I’m keeping a watchful eye on Midnight so that he doesn’t manage to sneak out. Not good for a black cat to be out on Halloween. Not good at all!

Okay, getting down to brass tacks, what is this blog about and why should you spend your time perusing it? The answer is sneakily snuck into the title, via analogy. My life is (mostly) a mess. I am (mostly) a mess. I had this wild and crazy idea that maybe going public might provide support for me to surmount “non-productive” behaviors and get my bupkis out of the damned soup! Since I’m a big fan of a “win-win” philosophy, I’m also hoping, dear reader, that my travails, troubles, woes, and successes might provide some insight and encouragement for you, too, or at least a bit of levity, as you deal w/ your own “soup.”

One of the things on my “bucket list,” (how well that concept has caught on, eh) is to write a memoir. I know that sounds on the narcissistic side as I’m basically no one, but since I no longer have any family, the thought of dying and leaving nothing behind for no one, is just depressing. I mean, I may be no one special, but I am someone, and I’ve lived. I don’t want all those funny, zany, scary, insane, heart-warming memories to just go poof and blow away with the breeze. Besides, I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, but boring has never been one of them. So, I’m writing my memoir as part of this blog, mixed in with current efforts to get my act together—that’s the idea. Oh, and since I’m an amateur photographer, watercolorist, and crafter, I even have some nice visuals to accompany my clap trap.

So, dear reader, come enjoy the soup!