Halloween

Celebration. Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. It might be the dressing up or it might be the excuse to eat chocolate, gum drops, lollipops, lemon drops, sugar sugar sugar. This year I'm dressing up as a black widow. Unfortunately, it is a purchased costume. Eventually, I'd like to design and sew my own creations. My painting to the left is an example of something I think I could manage fairly easily.

I'm reminded of a Halloween six years ago when my husband was literally a few inches from certain death. I suppose that would have made any black widow art or costumes unacceptable. Luckily, what happened has become an interesting story and not a horror in my life. My husband's job was a few miles from home and he would bike to and from work. That evening, he was done early and started home, with the idea of surprising me and the kids and being there in time to go out trick-or-treating. I didn't even know to expect him home when my phone rang. It was a very brief conversation, him asking to come pick him up because his bike was unrideable.

Half way home, he'd decided to get off his bike and walk it up the remainder of a steep hill (we lived on the South San Francisco Industrial City hill, behind the R, his work down the hill near the water's edge). As he was trudging along, road to his left and a steeply slanting hill of rocks upward to his right, a loose grip on the handlebars, he was shocked when his bike went flying out of his hands, landed several yards up the rocky hill, and a crumpled car came to rest over the top of it. The car had swerved off the road, hopped the sidewalk, hit his back tire, and crashed up the hill before being stopped by the rocks. Other than shock, his thumb was a little sore from being bumped by the bars.

Happily, the driver, though her car was mangled, walked away unharmed. She'd just gotten off work after pulling several shifts and she'd fallen asleep behind the wheel. I'm glad she is okay, I'm ecstatic my husband isn't dead. I did not like arriving at the scene with flashing lights from cop cars and a firetruck, I kept telling myself, "he called me, he's okay." When I pulled up an officer asked who I was and exclaimed that my husband was an extremely lucky man. This is when I began to shake. My husband tossed the twisted bike in the back of our vehicle and hopped in. Home wasn't far, the kids were dressed and ready to go, we went and got lots and lots of candy.

I'd always liked Halloween growing up. Now, it is a reminder to squeeze my zombies, pirates, ghosts, and husband tight... while enjoying a sugar high.