Well well well. It's Halloween. All Saint's Day! All Hallow's Eve! Day of the Dead! Beggar's Night! Samhain!
It's the day that is supposedly the thinnest veil between the living and the dead. The time when we are closest to those who have passed and the PERFECT time to honor those gone and listen for messages back from the other side!
WHEEEE!
Sounds like fun! It might be a little scary and a little beyond some people's scope of what is true, but I say let's take it in and have some fun. WHY NOT?
Here we are in the Middle (St)age of life. The time when what we do and say should be as much about celebration as anything else! I know life is stressful and we all go through rough times, but why not take this day and kick our heels up and let down our own veil between the living and the dead!? Or our hair. We could just let down our hair!
I know! Let's do it by going to Woolworth's and buying a funny nose and glasses a la Groucho Marx, or a red wig and a size 17 shoe and go as BOZO the Clown, or just some grease paint and make ourselves up to look like LIPPY the LION with a tea-dyed mop for the mane. There was a whole lot of Middle (St)age in that last sentence. That was fun to write and really fun to remember!
I also remember spending hours making my very first solo constructed Halloween costume. I was 11. I asked my Mom for an old bridesmaid dress that she had and proceeded to cut it into a shredded-awesome-smithereens mess. I cinched it at the waist with one of my dad's belts, put a scary streaky mascara face on, and I was some sort of ghoulish wonder bride creature type thing. It was the greatest feeling to get ready to walk out the door that year. A chance to be proud. A chance to be creative. A chance of rain. Yep. Cats and Dogs. My brilliant masterpiece was covered with my Mom's London Fog. Great. I was a ghoulish wonder bride creature on her way to the Bridge Club Luncheon.
I stopped wearing costumes from the neck down that year, and just settled for making up my face. Hey, it saved me time and trouble and left me a little less encumbered for collecting the mandatory pillow case full of candy. It also freed me up physically to haul-ass away from Mr. Singleton's house. Why run from Mr. Singleton? Well maybe I filled his mailbox with shaving cream. No maybe. I did it. But, he gave us Chick-O-Sticks as our treat. Come on! CHICK-O-STICKS! You get a "trick" for that Mr. Singleton. I'm sorry, you just do.
So, come on, dress up. Let your inner child out. Let your hair down. Celebrate! LET'S HAVE SOME FUN!! Happy HalloWHEEEEEEE!!
I'll see you in the Funny Papers.
Now watch Middle (St)age: Halloween. You'll feel better about yourself.
Middle (St)age is written by Stacia Fernandez and Jacob Pinion and can be seen in its entirety on Stage17.tv. Follow Stacia at @Fernandezstacia -- follow her character Marina Lippon at @MarinaLippon or follow her page MIDDLE STAGE on Facebook. Just don't follow her around the grocery store. It makes her nervous.
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