Halloween's On Its Way!

I have to admit that the Strega household is less decorated this year than it used to be. In general, Halloween is a wonderful holiday for me, with only a few not-so-great memories associated with it. However, this year, I--along with a few friends and relatives--will scatter the flowers from my sister's funeral on Halloween. I took home all the flower arrangements in July and dried them on my back deck; I'm going to bundle them this week. So far, we have not been able to get my sister's ashes from her executors, nor do we know whether they have been scattered. So, this may be the only ceremony for her of that nature, and I want to make it nice for her.

Halloween was a terrible holiday for my sister, for various reasons. This day tends to be fraught with energy of various types for many of my family members, and for me, but she had particularly bad troubles on this day and so it was fun for her, when my kids were small, to redeem the day by visiting us and doing trick-or-treating, then going to a Halloween carnival that used to be set up at the local firehouse. I decided to wait and scatter her flowers on this day to honor the holiday that seemed so emblematic of the pain and the courage with which my sister faced life.

So, I don't have my array of Halloween decorations up this year, just a few things. and am content to leave it that way. Grieving makes me want to pare things down, and treat myself very gently.