Halloween is coming soon and the younger set is talking about  who or what they will be for  Halloween:  Goblin, Vampire, President Obama, Sexy Nurse, Clown,  or Glen Beck.   Zachary and Miles are going as a policeman and a federal express truck driver (“cause that’s where presents come from”).  If anyone asks what I will I be for Halloween? I’ll  say: “I’m going to be looking like a 62 year old.”  Because being 62 and looking 62 has no reality. It’s like a costume I’ve donned to go trick’ r ‘treating. The real me is about 29. The real me can read small print, stay up past 11, eat as much as I want without gaining an ounce, and look reasonably good in a bathing suit. The real me has a future extending endlessly  before me and a myriad of choices as to how I will spend my days. The real me might still write the great American novel, run for office, become a ballerina or help bring about world peace.   It’s not that I really want to go back in time. I just want to shed this 62 year old costume and be myself.  Just like this optical illusion, the young is hidden in the not-so-young.  It’s Halloween…. all the time.

The Beauty and the Crone

Witches’ Song from MacBeth

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and bling-worms sting,
Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Categories: observations