I’ve never liked Halloween.
And it has nothing to do with my religious affiliation. I think it was because the whole thing was so unpleasant for me as a kid.
First of all the whole costume thing was an ordeal. I mean I was into drama. The idea of wearing a costume wasn’t the problem. It was more a function of my propensity to procrastinate that caused problems with the costume. (Do you think I could have put a couple more “pro” words in that sentence?)
Because I never bothered to decide what I was going to wear very early, there was this build up of stress for weeks before the event where I had to endure the crushing weight of knowing that the whole costume ordeal was heading my way.
One strike against the holiday.
Then there was the trauma of knocking on strangers doors. Naturally I am an extreme introvert. I grew up an only child in a very rural area. (My public high school graduating class had 57 of us. It was a big year. Our house was on a dirt road. You get the idea.)
So then I had to pile in the car and get driven from house to house to go trick-or-treating. If I’d tried to do it walking, I’d probably end up with about three candy bars for the whole night’s effort. In the dark I’d have to walk up some long driveway, often by myself (did I mention I was an only child?) and do one of the scariest things on my list: go talk to someone I didn’t know.
And ask them for something. While wearing some goofy costume that I hated because it had been the source of so much stress. In the dark. In the middle of no where.
Is it any wonder that I’ve never been successful at sales? I mean Halloween caused some deep emotional scarring here when it came to the whole cold calling thing, don’t you think?
The only thing that could possibly motivate me to press on through that kind of fear – was chocolate.
Oh, how I hated going through all that and ending up with Sweet-Tarts or Smarties. Or toffee. Or, God forbid, an apple or an orange!
I wanted chocolate and chocolate only.
I guess that whole experience growing up is why I try to make sure I am working on Halloween. Last year I took Gorgeous out to dinner so I wouldn’t have to be home. This year we had over 40 kiddies come to the door. I stayed in my study on the computer.
Gorgeous doesn’t get it. She thinks I’m some sort of Scrooge towards the whole think.
The truth is I’m permanently scarred. (Or is that scared?)
Enjoy!
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