Halloween Dance

Took Lea, Michelle and Danica to a Halloween costume dance for people in AA.  There was a meeting before the dance that was good, but not all I fantasized about…  Lea looked like the ghost of Little Red Riding Hood, Michelle was dressed in green as a fem fatale version of Robin Hood and Danica had a Bat Girl costume.  They looked great.  We took some pictures, chatted with others and listened to live music for a good hour.  Danica had never danced before and still has not danced.  Lea and Michelle were not up for it either.

It was a pleasant event and we had a good time.   Maybe the best part of the event was simply showing up and chatting with others.  All of us need to practice showing up and having things just be okay—not overwhelming fantastic nor hellish—just okay, pleasant and good enough for today.  We had exactly that experience.   It was good.  It was the first time I took three pretty ladies with me to a dance.  That was cool.

The holiday season is called “the mean season” by some due to the chasm between expectations of Norman Rockwell Americana and reality.  Lea had a fair-sized dose of that going on.  It was the first time she wore a Halloween costume since her kids were little and she left home for the life of an vagabond drug addict.  It was an emotionally loaded event for her that she handled reasonably well.  She planned an elaborate costume with too little time to put it on and so felt rushed but did not have a meltdown beyond castigating herself for a not-perfect costume missing this and that small details.

I am grateful for simply having a nice time on Halloween with good friends and not much drama.  It was a darned good start to the holiday season to build on as we plan on going to three gratitude dinners in November.  Tomorrow night is a salmon dinner in La Conner.  Roadtrip!