The Divide//October 170th, 2023

 I don't think I ever understood the world's obsession with spring.

Perhaps it's because I've always found new beginnings ominous, as opposed to exciting. You could say I'm averse to change.

But then, autumn is a time of change as well, isn't it?

Regardless of the reason, I never understood what is so exciting about baking sun and bright skies. Or how the flowers, in shades of pink, purple, yellow...or the green grass and leaves, for that matter, were supposedly more beautiful, more inviting, than the explosions of different shades of orange against a spooky gray sky. 

Most people want to fast forward to this time of year, but I wish I could fast-forward through it. Spring and summer...what is so lovely to the rest of the world, is a time of physical and mental exhaustion for me.

It's a strange thing, when I really think about it. The countdown to Halloween is longest in the winter months, as the clock resets. We cling to the memories of last Halloween, so close, yet so far, a dream that you can't quite remember upon waking. But as spring draws near, it's a reminder that this Halloween is getting closer. It's almost as if the bully summer is playing keep-away with us...dangling in front of us what we want so badly, then pulling it away, reminding us of what we have yet to go through before we can have it. Somehow, Halloween feels closer and yet further away than it did in the winter months. 

It's a double-edged sword type of feeling. Honestly, what is better? The feeling of mourning for last Halloween, with rotten pumpkins smiling their broken grins at us, reminding us that their time is up but will come again, or the promise of this Halloween, as the snow melts to remind us that the seasons do change and all comes back around again, bringing us hope but also the dread of summer time? The memory of a distant dream, or the prize after a long, draining battle? 

Which side of the divide is, truly, closer? In winter, we mourn Halloween as a lost, dead thing, but in the spring and summer, it is the hero that will save us. Will slay the enemy and bring us all home.

Hurry back, dear Halloween.