So it's Halloween then. . .

I took the day off to help the the trick or treaters. Our youngest is going as a dinosaur. . .again.

The Lemur made a special appointment with Grandma to go out shopping for an extra special costume this year. The guiding thought was that it had to involve a sword. So he ends up going as a ninja. . .again!

The red head is letting himself be dressed up as a girl by two girls from his class. Ah, the burdens of being a good looking teen boy.

And, as it turns out, my daughter had a concert she wanted to go to and I was the only one to get her there.

So I spent October 31 with these guys. That's kind of scary. Right?

The Ball Drops

So, I’m 40 now.

There’s no more denying it. I’m officially a grown-up.

To be honest, though, I’ve kind of thought of myself in a 40ish category for the last three years, so there’s really no heartache.

My wife turned 40 in February, and we had a big party then with all our out of town friends who could come down. So no big party this time. We kind of had our fanfare back then.

During that weekend, we took my wife to the roller-skating rink for a little flashback fun. It was excellent when we walked up to the window and the guy behind the glass asked if we were here to pick up some kids and we said, “No way, we’re here to skate!” He didn’t actually roll his eyes, but you could tell he was doing it on the inside. We definitely were the oldest skaters that night---by decades. It was fun, but it wasn’t quite the flashback feeling that I was hoping for. The music wasn’t right. I think the oldest song was from 1998. I needed some Foreigner or Boston. Something.

The wife and I will be going out this Saturday, though. To also celebrate our 18^th Anniversary.

It’s nice to have the anniversary so close to my birthday. That way I can put my focus on the part where I enjoy accumulating years.

When I was in High School, I started being in rehearsal during all of my birthdays. So I’d just take cupcakes to rehearsal and call it a party. The last big party I had was when I turned 21. I got a bunch of college friends from the Drama department together and we all went to Chucky Cheeses’ and danced with the 4 year olds. It was a riot.

At my wife’s party I announced that this was her “Life Begins at 40” party. I may have said this before, but it’s like this: You have freedom but no wisdom in your twenties, so you get in all sorts of messes. You have wisdom but no freedom in your thirties, because you are busy fixing all the messes from your twenties. Then you hit forty, and if you play your cards right, you have both wisdom and freedom---so let the good times roll!

And I think the Bible supports this, too. Remember 40 days and 40 nights of rain, 40 years in the desert seeking the promised land, and 40 days in the desert being tempted by the devil before Jesus’ ministry began-----see, all the good stuff started after 40!

Besides, I’m not even at midlife yet---by my calculations I have another 20 years before that sets in.

So raise a glass. Here’s lookin’ back at cha.

As I enter my home I see. . .

Our two youngest boys watching a favorite Godzilla movie, with the little Bear acting it out as he watches it with one of his two headed dragon toys (he's Godzilla, of course). Mother is sitting at the kitchen table reading Mort de Aurthur (King Arthur) in the original Mallory old English text. The teens are in the playroom in a heated Guitar Hero battle.

So nothing left to do but heat up a bowl of chili and grab a chess strategy book and nestle in.

It can rain all it wants. We've got it covered.

Good Morning Starshine

Good Morning Starshine
Originally uploaded by CyberJazzDaddy.

You get up on a quiet fall morning while it's still dark. You putter around in dimly lit rooms getting ready for the day while you're body keeps trying to convince you to go back to bed. It's convinced we're walking about in the middle of the night when there is still quality hours of sleep to be had.

When you finally are ready to force yourself out into to the world despite all inner feelings to the contrary, you throw open the door to find this!

A huge spider has made a web across the opening to the door and is sitting there in the center of it right at eye level. Needless to say, you quietly close the door and exit out the other end of the house, hoping that he'll have decided to relocate by the time you get back in the evening.

Can there be any question left that October is here?