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Halloween - The Love Hate
Noticed those pumpkins suddenly showing up everywhere? Are you dreading pumpkin lasagna, pumpkin spice lattes … and er … pumpkin beer? Or are you looking forward to pumpkin patches and little cutie pie trick-or-treaters? I know you are dreading those kids’ passive aggressive chaperones. And you are probably on the fence about all that annoying gratuitous adult halloween misbehavior. If you are a parent, I wish you luck. If you are like me you probably have a love hate relationship with All Hallow’s Eve. Over the years, my spirit for it had simply died. I was taken completely by surprise when of all things my visit to the Roger Williams Zoo resurrected it!
When I first moved into suburbia after student apartment living, my wife and I looked forward with great enthusiasm to the neighborhood children coming out trick or treating on Halloween. We got candy. We got costumes. We put up ghoulish decorations and props. We enjoyed it. Gradually, over the years our Halloween spirit waned as we watched neighbors leave a bucket of candy on their doorsteps. It died that one year when two beleaguered parents asked us to bring candy down to the street for their kids. In the last few years we had ignored Halloween.
And then I went to the Roger Williams Zoo a few days ago and was greeted by this sight:
