Year 2, Day 243: Halloween

Halloween is among my favorite holidays, and why not? Unless you are a pagan or witch, there are no religious ceremonies to attend, and at the end of the night you get to count up your candy. I did go through a period of not enjoying Halloween, which I suppose everyone does. That is the period when you are an angst-ridden teen who feels too 'old' to trick or treat but you are too young to drive to any parties where you could mix or mingle with other hormonal classmates. It didn't help that I also was rampantly paranoid that the ne'er-do-wells who erupt in every small town with their baseball bats, toilet paper and eggs would have singled me out as ripe for the picking. When I got my license, and later in college, I rediscovered my joy of halloween, made manifest by throwing loud raucous parties that featured a keg, endless mix tapes and very often, I'm afraid, the local authorities.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean
Heritage Oat Flakes (purchased by mistake and now I must eat 128 oz of them)
Blueberries
Banana
Coffee

Snack
4 Pieces Beef Jerky
2 oz 50% Jalapeno Cheddar

Lunch: Peter's Kitchen
Chicken Kebab Salad
Balsamic Vinegar

Dinner:
Emily's Hungarian Chicken
Asparagus
Pickles
1/2 oz Popcorn

Despite a good walk around the neighborhood (which I helped plan this year), I indulged in absolutely no candy. Ruby was interested (that's a generous description) as to why I didn't eat any candy. She wanted to know if adults didn't eat candy. I said she knew that wasn't true because she had seen adults eat candy, even in her own house. I'm not sure I knew how to explain it to her except with the very unkid-friendly statement that candy has 'little or no nutritional value' and too much can make you feel bad. She promised never to eat candy for dinner. We agreed that was a good idea. But I certainly did reflect on past Halloweens where the overage of candy was gleefully counted, divided and consumed by yours truly. Though I have savored all candy at one time, I think the winner of "if you could only eat one" contest is probably still the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup—but NEVER the small, foiled wrapped ones. Only the big, single or double orange-packaged ones. Ruby asked me if I was "in love with Reese's Cups," which she continually calls "Reese's Bites." I told her I loved them but I was not in love with them.