Boo

Happy Halloween.

We've turned some kind of a corner here at our place. The preteen-for-less-than-one-more-month will not be participating. He had a "social" at school, during which he roamed the gym periphery, chatted with his coach and shoved a couple of boys around. How do I know this? Well, after his father and I watched the little kids' costume parade, and dropped cans of play-doh and some rubber spiders into treat sacks back in the first grade, we slipped into the darkened gym and held up our camera. We may have gotten some shots of 8th grade girls, nicely costumed, dancing with each other. I'm pretty sure we got some shots of the colored lights that were pulsing on the ceiling. And, holding the camera above the throng, we MAY have gotten the preteen.

He was moving pretty fast, though. He has too. He has to avoid the girls who are pursuing him, and he has to avoid all the girls whose hearts he has already broken. I think he's blown through all but maybe two or three. Yep. The shine is off of him. To those rapidly maturing girls, I'm sure he looks like a tall drink of water, but at this awkward age, he's probably about that bland, too.

Anyway, back at home here, I guess he'll pass out the treats. He has declined offers of treats and activities. He's (and I use the term very suspiciously here) " doing homework" right now.

Sister, on the other hand, is REALLY AMPED up because she has this totally buff SPIDERMAN suit. Briefly, she wanted to be a witch, and even more briefly, Snow White (which I didn't mind because I do so want her to embrace her black haired/ white-skinned beauty) and then she defaulted to Cinderella (which I did mind, first, because she's not black-haired, and second because it takes MAGIC for her to get happy. Please know that I am fully aware of the conflict this presents with my tolerance for Snow White. The hair takes precedence over independence.)

AND then, pow-pow! biff ZING!!! Spiderman! And DON'T think that you can put a little skirt on over it and call her Spider GIRL or even Spider WOMAN. They are NOT the same, and she knows it. Well. I think the whole thing is delightful, more delightful, even, than if she had wanted to be some totally unexpected and offbeat female, like, say, Medusa. Or Medea.

And I? I just had a lunch date with my husband, at one of my favorite restaurants. And I'm reading the book club book, which I successfully nabbed from the library instead of paying $30 for it in hard back. Of course, it took until yesterday to become available. I have about 300 pages to go. Between carving pumpkins. And warming up under the covers.