Even though I love Halloween, it's something of a relief to reach November. This was more true when I was younger -- I spent October dressing in black and purple and fluorescent green, sometimes all at once, and when November came I switched to navy blue and brown. October was for parties and chasing guys; November was for catching up on homework.
In recent years, I haven't worn much black and purple, and I don't bring out my spider earrings until October 29th or 30th. But still, I feel the change. October is for ghost stories and November is for presidential biographies (while sneaking chocolate out of the twins' bowls of candy). This year, though, there isn't any chocolate to steal because the twins did not go trick-or-treating! Yes, faced with the prospect of having to wear a cloth mask with their costumes (not that they HAD costumes, but they figured they could cobble something together), they decided they'd rather stay home and play stupid video games and look at stupid TikTok. The mind boggles. I would NEVER have made that choice at their age.
On the other hand, my last year of trick-or-treating might have been seventh grade. Or was it the year before? I was quite tall at 11 and 12, close to 5'6", and people commented on that somewhat critically as I went door to door. The twins aren't that tall (Kid A is about 5' and Kid B an inch or two shorter), but clearly their trick-or-treating years are nearing the end, if they haven't ended already. Next year, if masks are no longer required, will they go out? I'd say it's unlikely. We'll see.
Our neighborhood was very big on socially distanced trick-or-treating, with many people delivering the candy through long pipes or chutes of some sort. I just put a little table at the entrance to our porch, added some saucers full of tea lights so the kids could see what they were getting, and poured out some candy onto the table (sorry the photo is so dark -- forgot the flash). People were very polite, only taking a few candies at a time, despite the fact that I was indoors watching a movie instead of standing there staring at them. I heard one little girl say, "I'm going to take THREE pieces." Very cute. I had bought three bags of Skittles and Starbursts and I think we went through about 1.5 bags. There's a lot left over, but it isn't anything that interests me. Should have bought some chocolate.
We had no luck with our pumpkins either -- they froze in the frigid weather we had last Sunday & Monday. Should have brought them inside on the really cold days. I tried to carve faces in them anyway, but they started to collapse when I did so (I didn't scoop out the seeds, which definitely would have made them collapse). I moved them from the front porch to these flower pots (with mostly frozen annuals in them), because they were leaking orange liquid and it was gross.
Well, there was no reason to expect that Halloween would be fun this year. Covid has just wiped out 2020. There are 230,703 deaths in the U.S. as of today -- last week there were 224,999, so that's an average of about 815/day this past week (last week the average was 740/day). The numbers are getting bad in Colorado. Boulder had gone down to 10-15 cases per day and now we're back up over 100 a day. The kids finally got to go to in-person school last week for two days, Thursday and Friday, but I wonder whether they'll close the schools down again soon.
And this brings us to what November really means -- not necessarily presidential biographies (you'll notice a lot of non-presidential books in my current to-read pile), but a presidential election. I was so sure Joe Biden would win -- and he probably still will -- and the Democrats may very well take the Senate, and they undoubtedly will keep the House -- but every time I read that the polls have tightened in this state or that race, I get a sick, painful feeling in my stomach. It's PTSD from four years ago. In 2016 we were so sure Hillary would win, and look what happened. Even if Biden does pull out the win, even if he wins by a LOT, it still makes me feel sick to think about all those people in the country who support Trump. Why do people support a liar? Is it just because Fox News presents him as a good person? How is it possible to fight back against Fox News without violating free speech?
I can't read any article about polls anymore. I'm hoping and praying for the best, but preparing for the worst. I've now given Joe $150, more than I've ever given any candidate ever. I've voted, long since. My ballot has been accepted and processed. I know I could be making phone calls, but I'm not. I'm trying not to think about the election. Obviously failing, but trying. Two more days of voting. Then days and days of counting. Then, who knows.
Please let it all be OK.
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