Tales From A Walk: April 5th, 2026; AKA Easterween/Creepster/Zombie Jesus Day, Etc.

 Someone asked me once

When do you stop mourning the previous Halloween and start looking forward to the next one?

That's always been a hard question for me to answer, as I am always looking back or looking ahead, depending on the situation. 

I often see what was, and what will be again, simultaneously. 

But today, I went for a walk. Probably my first full walk since Christmas time. That last walk, the remnants were still there. Though it was a different holiday entirely, I still met some rotting pumpkins, and some dead leaves clinging to their brittle branches.

Then two back to back winter storms came in February, burying us in two feet of snow both times. I don't know that I've ever felt more like I was in alternate reality, or farther away from Halloween.

Today was different, though. 

When Easter comes, you hear all this talk of spring, and new beginnings, and that sort of thing. 

And I guess it never really hit me how that can apply to Halloween as well.

Walking along today, I saw dead leaves, but they were gathered in bags, sitting at curbs, as if off to retire and make way for a new lot. 

I didn't see any Halloween decorations, save for a few skeletons that are always around (oh how I long for a twelve-foot skeleton neighbor), but it was as if I could hear them whispering. Whispering, We'll be back.

Perhaps it's the epitome of "rushing the seasons" to say this, but, technically, the next major holiday is Halloween. I've never really counted the summer holidays, because you don't really decorate for them or do much that you couldn't do on any other given day. The next time the seasonal displays change in the stores and bring us something fun, will be when "Code Orange" is upon us once more.

I've not been having the easiest time this year, for many reasons, and I'm definitely more disconnected from certain things than I've been in awhile. 

But today, on this late Easter afternoon walk, I saw it. I saw the new beginning...another Halloween season beginning to bloom.

When will I stop mourning last year and begin to look ahead to this coming Halloween?

I think I will start right now.