October...Day Twenty Six...

Greetings friends and fiends,

I've tried to NOT talk about the current situation in the world (which one, Mark?!?), but tonight I decided to drop a few links to articles that I read and then discussed on the latest Dad Time Out Show podcast which should be online any day now.  These are Halloween based articles therefore fitting of my blog.

Needless to say I'm super bummed out about not being able to take my kids trick-or-treating this year. The feelings about trick-or-treating (or any Halloween celebrations) vary wildly, but I'm going to err on the side of caution and not allow my kids to go out this year. As I've said before, Halloween this year is stacked - October 31st is on a Saturday, a full moon (a Hunter's Blue Moon), and at 2 am on Sunday, November 1st Daylight Savings Time ends (setting our clocks back to 1 am and gaining an extra hour of sleep). A full moon on Halloween only happens every 18 to 19 years! 

So in preparation for the latest Dad Time Out Show our host, MK, sent over the two following articles for us to read:

"CDC releases new guidance on Halloween, calls trick-or-treating 'high risk' (here)

"Is Trunk-or-Treating Safe This Year? Here's the Lowdown on This Halloween Activity" (here)

I was going to break these articles down, but I'll spare you all.  If you want to read them the links are above and worth a read.  They reinforce my decision. I'm not a big trunk-or-treat guy, but like trick-or-treating it involves close proximity and even with all the things I've seen (candy chutes, catapults, and the like) I still figure someone has to touch the candy wrappers before they hit the chute, go in the bag, whatever so...no thanks. Like I've told people, if in 5 years I find out that I was overly cautious and didn't need to wear my mask, wash my hands and keep socially distanced I will still feel good about my choice.  I do it for myself, for those I love and for the greater good.  There's nothing wrong with that.

I do hope to spend some time on Halloween making memories and having fun despite what's going on. I watched the video below with my littlest one last night. It made me sort of sad.  I hope Halloween 2021 finds us in a different place.

Happy Haunting,

Mark Harvey