All Hallow's Eve...Eve

Hi Everybody!

Tomorrow is Halloween, one of my favorite days of the year, and I just wanted to wish you all a good one. I remember falling in love with scary movies as a small child, sneaking my way downstairs to watch them on TV when I wasn't supposed to. The highlight for me was probably the original 1980 Friday the 13th; it was late at night, and my parents and brothers were asleep, and I turned it on and got SO SCARED at the surprise ending (I won't spoil it for you -- you should just rent it and have the shit scared out of you). But here's the thing: since I wasn't supposed to be watching it in the first place, I couldn't go in my mom and dad's room and shake my mom awake for comfort, so I just huddled under my blankets in bed, terrified that Jason was going to come get me just like in the movie.

Mom has always outdone herself on Halloween: decorating our home to the nines, helping Jordan, Aaron, and me with costumes. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of trick-r-treating, and some of my favorite adult memories are of passing out candies to the trick-r-treaters. (Speaking of, just watched Trick-R-Treat with Meagan yesterday -- a new classic for anyone who likes throwback movies to the likes of Creepshow and other '80s favorites). Gosh, A.J. Beckert, Nick Lakatos, Tim Smith, I think of all of you around the holidays and how much fun we used to have. Mom, I think about going to see Lost Boys with you. Jordan and Aaron, I remember being a MEAN older brother and convincing you that a serial killer was stalking us through the meadow that one time until I had you crying. I know, dear readers, shocking!

I've had lots of time to watch scary movies this week. Am home recuperating after some arthroscopic surgery on my knee. Yep, I tore my meniscus in the summer of '08. and last Friday the doctor went in there and fixed things up and got me ready for healing. My knee hasn't quite been the same in over a year, so after a few weeks of healing, I'll be as good as new. Been going a little stir-crazy in the house, but also have had amazing visitors, have gotten some good sleep, have done some reading (about 2/3 through Stephen King's The Stand, which stands -- pun intended -- at 1,141 pages). It's amazing how I can say I long for time to myself -- and trust me, I do cherish it -- especially because life can be so, so busy with work, catching up with people, upkeep of a home, all that stuff. But then when I have a chunk of it, like this week, my thoughts can spiral and I get edgy and it's just so difficult for me to be Zen and calm and still, on the inside. But I'm working on it. It's been an interesting Nathan Experiment for me.

Speaking of Stephen King's The Stand, here's a great quote from it:

"The father of sin was theft; every one of the Ten Commandments boiled down to 'Though shalt not steal.' Murder was the theft of a life, adultery the theft of a wife, covetousness the secret, slinking theft that took place in the cave of the heart. Blasphemy was the theft of God's name, swiped from the House of the Lord and sent out to walk the streets like a strutting whore...."

I look forward to Jerry visiting tomorrow; we're going to have a Halloween marathon. And then Luiz arrives on Sunday; he's renting the loft upstairs. This is just such a ghoulishly wonderful time of the year, and thank you to my visitors for spider cupcakes and Edward Cullen Sweetheart candies, pie, cards, sweet phone calls and texts and emails. Autumn is truly a time when we bundle up, hunker down, and hopefully find solace as the earth takes a long nap and recharges its batteries for the spring. They say that the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest on Halloween. I see that as a beautiful thing, a balance of nature, a time to rejoice and smile and play the occasional prank on a younger sibling....

Yours,
Nathan